Friday night in CBB will see the Baylor Bears travel to Sin City to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers. The game is scheduled for a 9:00 pm tipoff and will be televised live on ESPN. Currently Baylor is favored by 5.5 points with the total being set at 134.5 for this game. Bob Huggins begins his quest for his next milestone victory tonight as he and the West Virginia Mountaineers clash with sixth-ranked Baylor in the final round of the Las Vegas Classic at Orleans Arena in Sin City.
Free Analysis: West Virginia (9-2) has won five straight, including a 70-68 overtime thriller over Missouri State on Thursday night when Gary Browne's fall-away 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left in regulation sent the game to an extra session, where the Mountaineers won only after Missouri State's Nathan Scheer missed a potential tying shot in the final seconds. It was the 700th career win for Huggins, who has guided West Virginia to 21 victories or more in each of his first four seasons in Morgantown. Kevin Jones is the most important player on the WVU team as he averages a double-double with 20.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Bryant is responsible for another 16.4 ppg and is more than willing to handle the shooting out on the perimeter where he has made good on a team- best 24 attempts. Those two lead a WVU offense that has averaged 76.8 ppg on 48% shooting. Both averages are in the top 50 in the nation. On defense WVU has been tough as they have allowed 64.8 ppg on 42.2%. Huggins though is not happy about their FT shooting as they have hit just 62%(308th) from the charity stripe. As for the Bears, they are one of a handful of Division I programs still undefeated this late in the season, thanks to a 72-59 triumph over the Gaels of Saint Mary's-CA in Las Vegas last night, and they have a chance to match their best start in school history. Balanced scoring has been a keystone to the success of the Bears in the first 11 games of the season as five players score in double figures, paced by Jones III with his 15.8 ppg as he has appeared in just six outings. Acy (12.7 ppg) is one of three players averaging better than five rebounds per contest, his 7.4 rpg leading the way in that department, while a guy like Pierre Jackson has come off the bench exclusively to tally 11.0 points and 4.5 assists per game. "We don't care who scores," Quincy Miller said. "We're trying to share the ball. We just try to get everyone in the game. We just want to get everyone involved. We just want to win." The Bears are 25th in scoring (79.3 ppg) and 8th in shooting (50.5%), while at the defensive end they are 25th in scoring ( 57.4 ppg) and 3rd in defensive FG% (35.3%). This a complete team on both ends of the floor that has defeated every opponent by double figures and is now averaging 21.9 ppg for its margin of victory through 11 contests. This is the first ever meeting between these teams.
Free Pick: Last night i had a feeling the Bears would win easily vs St Mary's but I still used them as a smaller play. Wish I hadn't cause they won by DD for the 11 time this year vand i expect them to do it again. Baylor is a very complete team ranking in the top 25 in both offensive and defensive scoring, while they are also in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive FG%. West Virginia is at 47th in scoring (77.6 ppg), but they are weaker at the defensive end as they have allowed 64.8 PPG on 42.2% shooting. Baylor also has a huge edge from long range as they are 9th (41.7%) while WVU is 232nd (32.1%), plus Baylor gets a solid edge at the FT line (65th to 308th). West Virginia got Hugginns his 70oth win and it was a struggle as the game went to OT, so they could be a bit flat in this one. Baylor has just too many edges all over the court and they should make this the 12th time this year that they won by double digits.