West Virginia has won the last eight games in its series with Duquesne, which includes the last four played in Pittsburgh. Let’s take a closer look at this non-conference rivalry from a NCAA Basketball betting perspective.
Mountaineers have won three in a row
The West Virginia Mountaineers will head into the CONSOL
Energy Center on a three-game win streak, coming off a 68-67 victory over the
Virginia Tech Hokies as eight-point home favorites, while going UNDER the NCAAB betting lines for the fifth time in six opportunities. The Mountaineers are 8-14 against the spread (ATS) away from home over
the last two-plus seasons, with the UNDER going 16-6 in that situation.
Dukes are holding their own under Ferry
The Duquesne Dukes are 5-4 through nine games of the Jim
Ferry era, as he came over from LIU Brooklyn after leading that program to its
second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance. The Dukes are 0-2 against Big East opponents
this season after losing to Georgetown and Pittsburgh, which happens to be the
former conference of tonight’s opponent.
Winning in December
Sports bettors may find the Mountaineers attractive when
looking over the college basketball odds page, considering they’ve won 49 of
their last 56 games in the month of December. West Virginia is playing its first season in the Big 12 Conference, but
has gone 56-14 in non-conference regular season games under coach Bob
Huggins. The program is 7-7 ATS during
this calendar month since 2010.
Team effort on the boards
The Dukes have been out-rebounded in the last five meetings
in this series, but that could change with a new philosophy on the boards. It’s truly a team effort with no player
averaging more than 5.2 rebounds per game, which has led to a plus-5.3
rebounding edge through nine games. Duquesne ranked 337th in rebounding margin with a minus-7.5 disparity on
the boards a season ago. It’s an
important statistic to handicap when you find out that West Virginia is 104-24
in its last 128 games when out-rebounding its opponent.
Huggins is perfect in this series
Huggins is 5-0 all-time against the Dukes, with four of
those victories coming at West Virginia and the other coming during his time at
Cincinnati. West Virginia has compiled a
298-170 record against current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, but has
missed the mark in terms of the point spread in four of its last five
opportunities.
Prediction
I’m going to recommend that readers back the Dukes as one of
their college basketball picks on Tuesday night, as the home team is 4-0 ATS in
the last four meetings, while the Mountaineers are 1-4 ATS when hitting the
road after three or more consecutive home games.
College Basketball Pick: Duquesne Dukes +7.5 at 5Dimes