Big Monday: Backyard Brawl and Border Showdown
By Jason Lisk
Pittsburgh is in the hunt for a #1 seed, but will be without leading scorer and best three point shooter Ashton Gibbs for a couple of weeks with a knee injury. West Virginia is 15-7, but should be in pretty good shape because of some quality wins this year. This one tonight would rank as the best, and would go along way toward guaranteeing the Mountaineers’ return to March Madness. Both of these teams are among the best in the country at offensive rebounding, so the key will be who can prevent the other from getting second chances. Tip is at 7 pm est on ESPN.
The second game features the Border Showdown as Missouri goes to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks. Missouri is 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road in conference, which does not bode well for tonight. The key for Missouri is generating turnovers, and they haven’t been very good at creating a turnover advantage on the road in the Big XII. If Kansas is even or close in turnovers, they will handle Missouri in the half court offense and get good shots, and have the advantage in rebounding.
Josh Selby is out for tonight, but Kansas should still be a huge favorite. Kansas won the two games last year by 19 and 21 points respectively. Cole Aldridge is gone to the NBA, and he absolutely dominated Missouri defensively the last two seasons, but the Morris’ twins will still be a handful inside.
As a Missouri grad, I am more than accustomed to getting drilled in Lawrence early in games, and I’m fully expecting that tonight, because this hasn’t been the best defensive Missouri team or a very good road team in conference. Oh, and Kansas is pretty good.
[photo via Getty]