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March Madness preview: Tennessee vs. Wright State live stream, prediction

By Billy Williford

KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 21: Grant Williams #2 and Derrick Walker #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after a three-point basket against the Florida Gators in the second half of a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 21, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 62-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 21: Grant Williams #2 and Derrick Walker #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after a three-point basket against the Florida Gators in the second half of a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 21, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 62-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Vols open the NCAA Tournament against the Wright State Raiders. Here is the March Madness preview for the Volunteers.

Dust off your dancing shoes. Tennessee basketball is going dancing, and the Vols are doing it as a three seed in the NCAA Tournament. The drought is over; Vol fans finally get to watch their team play in March Madness.

Can Tennessee make a deep run in the bid dance? Maybe another Elite Eight run from the Bruce Pearl days? Well standing in their way are the upset-minded Wright State Raiders.

Wright State is out of the Horizon League and is back in the tournament for the first time since their trip in 2007. They finished second in the regular season with a 14-4 record and won the Horizon League Tournament. It’s March Madness, so anything can happen, and that’s exactly what Wright State is thinking.

Before we preview both teams and give our prediction, here is the information you need for Saturday’s game.

No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers vs. No. 14 Wright State Raiders
When: Thursday, March 15, 2018, at 12:40 p.m. E.T.
Where: American Airlines Center; Dallas, Texas
TV: truTV
Live Stream: Marchmadness.com
Line: Tennessee -11.5
Over/Under: 105

VIEW OF THE VOLS

Record: 25-8

Last 5: 5-1

Last 10: 7-3

It’s Wright State’s turn to have a piece of the peanut butter and jelly duo who wear the orange and white. Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield have had tremendous seasons, and nothing suggests that they won’t have a great tournament.

Both players are coming off games against Kentucky where they played well. Williams scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out three assists all while shooting 5-for-9 from the field.

Schofield also had a game think will be talked about for a while in Vol fans conversations. He helped get Tennessee back in the game right before halftime as he scored 13 straight points. He ended the game with 22 points, ten rebounds, and one assist on 7-of-15 shooting.

The Vols are a team that consistently plays ten players and have players that can score big points on any given night. In the three games of the SEC Tournament, Tennessee had three different players that led the team in scoring all three games.

VIEW OF THE RAIDERS

Record: 25-9

Last 5: 4-1

Last 10: 8-2

Wright State comes into its opening March Madness matchup against Tennessee on a four-game winning streak. They won the Horizon League with a 74-57 win against Cleveland State.

During the season, the Raiders only faced two NCAA Tournament teams, and they both were losses. They lost to Loyola Chicago, who they could meet in the Second Round if both teams could win their respected First Round match-ups.

Senior guard, Grant Benzinger leads the Raiders scoring 14.5 points per game. For only being 6’3 he rebounds well at 5.4 per game and Tennessee cannot leave him open from the three-point line. He likes to take around seven three-point shots a game and is making around 40% of them.

PREDICTION

Tennessee is young, and maybe that plays a factor in the game. It’s also called March Madness, and anything can happen. But, this isn’t the 3-14 matchup where I would look for an upset.

In the six games before Kentucky, the Vols didn’t give up 70 points to any opponent. To top that, earlier in the season, they held Iowa State to a season-low 45 points.

In the end, Tennessee is too tough on defense for the Raiders and handles them fairly comfortably with a 75-57 win.

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