Basketball Game Preview: Hoover Vikings vs. McKinley Bulldogs

Hoover and McKinley are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2020, but not for long. The Hoover Vikings will venture away from home to challenge the McKinley Bulldogs at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Hoover comes in on five and McKinley on three.

Last Friday, Hoover was able to grind out a solid win over Perry, taking the game 60-51. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 71st, while the Panthers are ranked 233rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask McKinley). They walked away with an 87-78 victory over Jackson on Saturday.

Hoover pushed their record up to 9-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.0 points per game. As for McKinley, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season.

Hoover skirted past McKinley 50-48 in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hoover since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.