College basketball betting favors 8th ranked West Virginia on Wednesday as the face Providence. The Mountaineers let a game get away last Friday at Pittsburgh as they blew a seven-point lead with under a minute left and then lost in three overtimes. If the Mountaineers are to stay in the hunt for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament they can’t afford to slip up at Providence in NCAA basketball betting.
College basketball betting has been pretty successful for the most part on West Virginia this season but free throw shooting is starting to haunt the Mountaineers. They were 18 of 32 against Villanova in a game they could have won and then against Pittsburgh they missed three front-ends of one-and-ones that could have put the game away. “We’ve shot a lot of free throws,” head coach Bob Huggins said, “We didn’t shoot a bunch of them early on because we were trying to get everything in, but over the break and since then we’ve had them make at least 50 and some days when we’ve had enough time, they’ve made 100.”
West Virginia is not expected to have trouble against Providence in college basketball betting but you never know. Providence has collapsed of late, losing five in a row. They are led by Jamine Peterson who is averaging 18.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. “I think he’s probably the most improved player in the league,” said Huggins. “I think he’s really good. He can shoot the 3 and he can drive to the basket. He rebounds it. He’s really, really athletic.” The Friars are the second best scoring team in the league averaging 81.8 points per game as college basketball betting stats show, but they are last in the Big East on defense, allowing 79.5 points per game.
College basketball betting stats indicated that Villanova and Syracuse are in first place in the Big East with Pittsburgh and West Virginia tied for third. The top four teams receive byes in the Big East tournament.
West Virginia has won nine out of the last 10 games against Providence. The Mountaineers are 6-1-1 in NCAA basketball betting in the last 8 meetings against the Friars. Providence is a pathetic 3-13 vs. the college basketball betting line in their last 16 home games.
Four of the last five West Virginia games overall have gone over the NCAA basketball betting number. Seven of their last ten road games have gone over in college basketball betting. Six of the last eight Providence home games have gone over in NCAA basketball betting.