Monday college Basketball and we will see the Pittsburgh Panthers travel to John Paul Jones Arena to take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have Virginia listed as 12 point favorites, while the total is set at 117.
Analysis: The Pittsburgh Panthers come into this game off a surprising rout of the North Carolina Tar Heels at home on Saturday. The win was the 4th in 5 games for Pittsburgh that also included a home win over highly ranked Notre Dame. For the year Pittsburgh is 17-9 overall and 6-6 in the ACC. The Panthers have gone 16-35-3 ATS in their last 54 games following a S.U. win and 1-9-1 ATS in their last 11 road games. Pittsburgh has been an average offensive squad, ranking 147th in scoring (68.8 ppg), 93rd in shooting (45.1%), 186th in 3 point shooting (34.1%) and 165th in FT shooting (69.3%). Defensively the Panthers have been average as well, ranking 159th in points allowed (65.6 ppg), 278th in defensive FG% (45.0%) and 196th in 3 point defense (34.2%).
The Virginia Cavalier have won 4 in a row since their lone loss of the year, but their last 3 have not been easy as those 3 have been decided by 5 points or less, including a 1 point home win over Wake Forest on Saturday. It looks like the Cavaliers are really missing Justin Anderson, who was the teams leading scorer. Still the Cavs lead the ACC with an 11-1 record. The Cavs have gone 19-6-2 ATS in their last 27 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600, but just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 vs the ACC. The Cavaliers have been an average offensive team this year, ranking 199th in scoring (66.7 ppg), 61st in shooting (46.2%), 86th in 3 point shooting (36.4%) and 33rd in FT shooting (73.5%). The defense for this team has been excellent all year as they come in ranked, 1st in points allowed (50.9 ppg), 3rd in defensive FG% (35.8%) and 39th in 3 point defense (30.5%).
Pick: Going to look at the Over in this one. Pittsburgh has shown this year that it will run and it has helped them to a decent 68.8 ppg average, plus it has helped them to 13 overs and just 5 unders for the year. The Panthers average just 61.3 ppg on the road and the Cavs have allowed 47.8 ppg at home, but I do expect somewhere in the mid to upper 50s from a confident Pitt offense that has averaged 75.2 ppg in their last 5 games overall. The Cavs have averaged just 66.8 ppg at home, but Pitt has allowed 72.2 ppg in their last 5 overall and 71.3 ppg on the road this year. I can see at least 70 points from the Cavs here, while Pittsburgh should put up at least 58 of their own and that gives a game in the upper 120s here.
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