Pittsburgh Panthers at West Virginia Mountaineers Betting Preview

Opening Line: Pitt +8.5 / WVU -8.5 O/U 127.5

Time: 7 PM EST Wednesday February 3, 2010 on ESPN 360

Tonight in a Big East match up coined the "Backyard brawl" the 6th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers host the 21st ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt has been struggling lately, as they are coming off a loss and have lost 3 of their last 4 games, which were all in conference play. Conversely, WVU is streaking, as they have won 4 in a row, but they still trail Villanova by 2.5 games in the tough Big East, which has 4 teams that are ranked in the top 10 in the nation.

This season West Virginia is 11-1 at home and 7-12 ATS and Pitt is 4-2 on the road and 10-7-2 ATS.

In their last games WVU beat Louisville 77-74 on Saturday while Pitt lost to South Florida 70-61 on Sunday.

WVU has lost 6 of their last 8 games against Pitt.

Pitt hopes that they can have defensive stopper Jermaine Dixon (9.5 ppg) back for this game, as they will need him since WVU is averaging 73.7 ppg. However, guard play is not the strength of the Mountaineers with their top 3 scorers all forwards led by Da'Sean Butler (16.5 ppg).

Butler has averaged 19.5 ppg in the Mountaineers 4-game winning streak.

Not that WVU needs any more frontcourt depth, but they will get it tonight, as 6'9" F Deniz Kilicli will make his debut in this rivalry game after being suspended for the first 20 games of the season.

Pitt is led by their solid backcourt, as they have 2 guards averaging in double figures led by Ashton Gibbs (16.8 ppg). Their only frontcourt player is a tweener in G/F Gilbert Brown (11.2 ppg), but he does not mix it up inside only averaging 3.7 rpg.

Even though Pitt's C Gary McGhee (6.5 rpg) and Nasir Robinson (6 rpg) are both not averaging over 7 ppg they will have to rebound well against the slew of frontcourt players WVU has.

With their backcourt and lack of depth inside the Panthers will have to shoot the rock well from outside in order to pull off the upset in this game.

If WVU can control the boards, score inside, and play solid perimeter defense they should have no problem winning this game.

Pitt is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games, 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 games, and has an Under record of 7-3 in their last 10 games against teams with a winning record.

WVU is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 home games, and has an Under record of 5-2 in their last 7 games as a favorite.

Pitt is 8-3 in their last 11 games in West Virginia and in the last 10 meetings between these 2 teams the total has gone Under 7 times.

Our Selection : After a 15-2 start the Panthers have lost 3 of their last 4 SU to drop to 16-5 on the season. Defense has been the big reason as Pitt used to be able to shut down their opponents' top scorer. That hasn't been the case as of late. That will be Pitts main focus tonight taking on the high flying Mountaineers, winners of 4 straight. West Virginia is 3-1 at home in conference play losing only to #3 ranked Syracuse by 1. The line opened at 7.5 on this game and steadily moved up to 10, so we think that the value is lost on laying a side wager on West Virginia. However, we feel that with Pitt's defense strategy and the fact that they're shooters have gone cold, that the under is the play. Take Under 127.5