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How to Watch, Scouting Report: Arkansas hoops vs. West Virginia

Gabe Osabuohien is returning to Fayetteville on Saturday.
Gabe Osabuohien is returning to Fayetteville on Saturday. (Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports)

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Riding a five-game winning streak, Arkansas returns to its home court this afternoon. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the matchup...

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Arkansas (15-5, 5-3 SEC) vs. West Virginia (13-6, 2-5 Big 12)

The Basics

Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Tip off: 1 p.m. CT

How to Watch/Listen

TV: ESPN2 (link to watch online)
On the call: Kevin Fitzgerald and Dane Bradshaw
Radio: Razorback Sports Network (TuneIn / Razorback Gameday App)
XM/internet: 380/968

Projections

-- Vegas spread: Arkansas, -8
-- O/U: 141
-- ESPN BPI: Arkansas has 73.8% chance to win, favored by 7.1
-- Bart Torvik: Arkansas has 72% chance to win, favored by 5.8 (proj. score: 74-68)

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Scouting Report

~While Arkansas has won five straight games, West Virginia has lost four in a row. However, the first three losses in that stretch were against top-20 teams - including two on the road - and the most recent one was to an Oklahoma team that blew out Arkansas earlier in the season.

~Through Thursday's games, the Mountaineers are No. 57 in the NET rankings, making it a Quadrant 2 opportunity for Arkansas. On the flip side, the Razorbacks are all the way up to No. 47, so it'll be a Q1 opportunity for West Virginia.

~West Virginia is led by legendary head coach Bob Huggins, who is in his 15th season with the Mountaineers. Including his time at Kansas State, Cincinnati and Akron, he has won 842 games as a Division I head coach. He has taken Cincinnati and West Virginia to the Final Four.

~There will be a familiar face returning to Bud Walton Arena, as Gabe Osabuohien is a super senior for the Mountaineers. He hasn't started a single game, but is one of their top bench players, playing 18.1 minutes per game. Osabuohien scored a career-high 17 points in his last game, but is averaging just 5.1 points and 5.7 rebounds.

~The leading scorer for West Virginia is super senior Taz Sherman. The 6-foot-4 guard is actually second in the Big 12 in scoring at 18.5 points per game. He's the highest volume 3-point shooter on the team, but is shooting just 33.7 percent on his 101 attempts.

~Neither team shoots the ball particularly well from deep. West Virginia is shooting 31.3 percent from 3-point range, which is ranked 283rd nationally, while Arkansas is 315th at 29.8 percent.

~As you might expect from a Huggins-coached team, the Mountaineers are forcing 16.5 turnovers per game. That is the 26th-best mark in Division I.

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