West Virginia Mountaineers at Louisville Cardinals, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: Louisville -7
Current Line: Louisville -6.5
Opening Total: 144.5
Current Total: 141
Money Line: Louisville -280 / West Virginia +240
The 23rd-ranked Louisville Cardinals (15-4, 4-2 Big East) begin a difficult stretch when they host the West Virginia Mountaineers (13-5, 4-2) in a key conference matchup for both teams on Wednesday. The Cardinals (-6.5) have won four of the last five meetings in the series and have covered five of the past six despite losing 77-74 to the Mountaineers last year.
Louisville fell to West Virginia on the road in that last meeting and has gone 3-0 in Big East games at home this year. The Cardinals are 1-2 in league games on the road though following a 72-67 setback at Providence on Saturday. Chris Smith scored a season-high 19 points, but Stephen Van Treese was the team’s only other player to score in double figures with 10. Three of the next four games will be on the road, including visits to #5 Connecticut and #21 Georgetown.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers will only have eight scholarship players available for this game after head coach Bob Huggins suspended leading scorer Casey Mitchell indefinitely on Monday for violating team rules. The suspension came one day after reserve forward Dan Jennings walked off the bench during a 56-46 home win over South Florida. Mitchell had totaled 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds against the Bulls while Jennings did not see any action.
West Virginia was coming off a stunning 75-71 loss to Marshall prior to the victory, which followed a four-game winning streak. The team has won its last two Big East road games, including a 65-59 upset of Georgetown back on January 8.
The Cards may have a deeper roster at this point, but they are not very healthy. Jared Swopshire, Rakeem Buckles, Gorgui Dieng and Terrence Jennings are all dealing with injuries that have limited them to some degree. Swopshire and Buckles remain out of action while Dieng and Jennings have played limited minutes lately.
Mitchell did not score in last year’s win for West Virginia over Louisville, as Da’Sean Butler was the star with a game-high 27 points. The Cardinals lost despite shooting nearly 52 percent from the field (28-of-54) and holding the Mountaineers to 40 percent (22-of-55). The difference in that game came at the charity stripe, where West Virginia made twice as many free throws (26) as Louisville attempted (13). The OVER has cashed in three of the last four home meetings for the Cardinals, but the UNDER is 3-1 in the last four road games overall for the Mountaineers.
Now that you have read this Big East college basketball betting preview featuring Louisville & West Virginia, check out the NCAA basketball odds on this and all the games to compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.
