Monday night in CBB will see the West Virginia Mountaineers travel to the northeast to take on the Connecticut Huskies. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 pm tipoff and will be televised live on ESPN. Currently Connecticut is favored by 5 points with the total being set at 138 for this game. The West Virginia Mountaineers would like to take advantage of the reeling Connecticut Huskies, as the two teams square off in Big East Conference action this evening at the XL Center in Hartford.

Free Analysis: The defending national champions were cruising through their season, closing out the 2011 portion of their schedule with 11 wins in 12 games, with the lone loss coming against UCF in a Battle 4 Atlantis tournament affair. The new year however, has not been kind to the Huskies, who have dropped back-to-back league games at Seton Hall (75-63) and at Rutgers (67-60) to fall to 2-2 in the Big East. Turnover have been a big issue for this team in their last 2 games as they have given the ball away 33 times over that stretch. Jeremy Lamb has been the leader of the Huskies this year as he is netting 18.2 ppg on an impressive 51.3 percent shooting. In the game vs Rutgers he fouled out with a season-low eight points Saturday, snapping a 25-game run of reaching double digits which started in last year's conference tournament.  Napier has been both an explosive scorer (14.7 ppg) and deft distributor (6.2 apg). A couple of youngsters add depth in the frontcourt in the form of freshmen Ryan Boatright (10.6 ppg) and Drummond (9.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg). The Huskies are averaging a modest 72.9 ppg this year, but are usually efficient at 47.8 percent shooting overall. The Huskies have played very well at the defensive end as they have allowed just 63.6 ppg (98th) on 37% shooting (11th). The Huskies are 9-0 this season at home, where they are shooting a Big East-leading 42.0 percent on 3-pointers. Napier has made 16 of 32 3s at home. Bob Huggins' Mountaineers are going to factor into the Big East race this season. West Virginia has won some big games this year, none bigger than Saturday's 74-62 handling of nationally-ranked Georgetown. The victory was the third in the last four games for the Mountaineers, who improved to 3-1 in conference play. On offense the Mountaineers are averaging 76.0 ppg and their +5.9 rebounding margin has been a big factor as well. Jones has proved to be one of the top performers in the Big East, averaging a double-double with team-highs of 19.8 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Bryant gives the team a second big-time scorer at 18.4 ppg and has upped that to 24.8 ppg in conference play, but  He's never had much success against UConn, however, averaging 9.0 points on 26.9 percent shooting in three meetings. Deniz Kilicli rounds out the top threats offensively, with 10.8 ppg. On defense WVA is average at best as they have allowed 66.1 ppg (156th) on 43.3% shooting (201st). Connecticut holds a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series with West Virginia, although it was the Mountaineers that won the only meeting last season, 65-56 in Morgantown. West Virginia has not won a road contest in this series at 0-8 (outscored by 15 ppg), including an 0-3 mark in Hartford. 

Free Pick: I like the under in this one. The UNDER is 10-3 in UConn's last 13 home games, while the UNDER is 9-3-1 in West Virginia's last 13 road games. The Huskies have played great defense this year, but it has struggled some in heir last 2 games (both losses) and I expect them to turn he heat up at that end of the floor tonight. Defense has been the name of their game at home as they have allowed just 60.6 ppg on 34.6% shooting there. UConn has averaged 77.3 ppg at home on 50.35 shooting, but with all the TO's they have had of late I expect them to played a more controlled offense tonight so they can take care of the ball and use most of the shot clock as well. West Virginia has not been that great on defense, but they have played a bit better of late, allowing just 63 ppg in their last 2 games. Their offense has struggled some on the road as they have averaged just 65 ppg, including putting up just 48 points at seton Hall a few games ago. With UConn struggling with TO's I don't expect them to play at a rushed pace and that should eat plenty of shot clock on most of their possessions, while their defense will keep keep a good WVA offense down enough for this one to come in comfortably on the UNDER.