Who’s Playing
Tennessee Volunteers @ Miami Hurricanes
Current Records: Tennessee 8-0, Miami 3-6
How To Watch
What to Know
Miami has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the Tennessee Volunteers at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. The Hurricanes are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 79.3 points per game this season.
Miami is headed into this one after the oddsmakers set last week’s over/under low at 147.5, but even that wound up being too high. They took a 65-55 hit to the loss column at the hands of Clemson on Saturday. The matchup marked the Hurricanes’ lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Lynn Kidd, who went 5 for 7 en route to 10 points plus eight rebounds. His performance made up for a slower match against Arkansas on Tuesday. Nijel Pack, on the other hand, was considerably less helpful: he went 0-7 from beyond the arc.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Miami struggled to work together and finished the game with only five assists. That’s the fewest assists they’ve managed all season.
Meanwhile, Tennessee put another one in the bag on Tuesday to keep their perfect season alive. They put a hurting on Syracuse to the tune of 96-70. The Volunteers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six games by 22 points or more this season.
Tennessee can attribute much of their success to Chaz Lanier, who scored 26 points. Another player making a difference was Zakai Zeigler, who scored 14 points plus eight assists and four steals.
Miami’s defeat was their third straight at home, which dropped their record down to 3-6. As for Tennessee, their victory bumped their record up to 8-0.
Tuesday’s contest is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Miami has been crazy accurate this season, having drained 48.9% of their field goals per game. However, it’s not like Tennessee (currently ranked second) struggles in that department as they’ve drained 52.5% of their field goals this season. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
