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The No. 2 seeded Arkansas Razorbacks were Vanderbilt Commodores’ fans on Thursday night, but didn’t get their wish, as the No. 10 seeded Tennessee Volunteers stormed back to defeat their in-state rivals in the second round of the 2015 SEC Tournament. Now, the Razorbacks, who split their regular season series with the Vols, will face an amped up Tennessee team in their opening game of the conference tournament. These two teams will face off at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
Arkansas have been the most impressive team in the SEC next to the Kentucky Wildcats, and are likely headed for a top four seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks boast one of the deepest squads in college basketball, so it’s no surprise they were able to dominate for huge stretches of the season. This team went on winning streaks of six games or more three separate times this season.
The winner of this one will face the winner of Friday’s late game, which tips off 25 minutes after this one finishes. Both of these teams will feel fairly confident that they can make it to the SEC Tournament final if they can get past this match-up.
In their two prior meetings, both games were decided by just a five point margin. Both teams won on the road, and both teams’ star players, Bobby Portis and Josh Richardson, performed well. Fouling seems to be the key stat differential between these two physical teams, with the winner of each game being the team that fouled less and shot more free throws.
Expect Tennessee to come out strong after their performance on Thursday night against Vandy, but Arkansas to figure things out in the second half. Look for a few key threes by either Michael Qualls or Kevin Punter to decide the game.
Taylor Sturm is a Featured Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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