Sweet 16: Harrison Twins Are X-Factors For Kentucky vs. West Virginia

The Kentucky Wildcats are the prohibitive favorite to win the national title this year, as they’ve been all season with an unblemished record heading into Thursday night’s Sweet 16 matchup against West Virginia.

Kentucky big men Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns grab most of the attention compared to their teammates, and rightfully so as future NBA lottery picks. But a duo that returned from last year’s Final Four team are they keys to beating the Mountaineers on Thursday.

Sophomore guard Aaron Harrison is the Wildcats’ leading scorer (11.1 points per game) this year, while his twin Andrew Harrison is second on the team in assists (3.6 per game) and makes just over 39 percent of his three-pointers. The two are also first and third respectively on the team in minutes per game, and if they don’t get into foul trouble I think each will play over 30 minutes on Thursday night.

West Virginia has an aggressive, pressing defensive style, and that has held up over their first two NCAA Tournament games as they have allowed 60.5 points per game with 40 total turnovers forced. The Mountaineers can’t compete with Kentucky’s size and depth, but they can even things up quickly by turning up their full-court press and having some success with it.

The Harrison twins have combined for just three turnovers in two tournament games, with all three being credited to Aaron. Each has had a double-digit scoring game in the tournament to this point, with Andrew scoring 14 in the Round of 64 against Hampton and Aaron scoring 13 in the Round of 32 against Cincinnati, so in the scoring column it may be one or the other that makes a notable contribution against West Virginia.

The Harrisons don’t need to light up the scoreboard, alone or collectively, to be important to Kentucky’s success on Thursday night and possibly beyond. But if their turnover total comes anywhere close to their combined point total against West Virginia, the chances for an upset will increase dramatically and the dream of an undefeated season for Kentucky could end in ugly fashion.

Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.