South Florida Bulls at West Virginia Mountaineers, WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, WV
Sunday, January 23, 2011, 2:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN3
Opening Line: West Virigina -13
Current Line: West Virginia -12.5
Opening Total: 130
Current Total: 130.5
Money Line: West Virginia -1100 / South Florida +750
The 21st-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (12-5, 3-2 Big East) are at risk of falling out of the Top 25 after splitting a pair of non-conference games over the past week but will get a chance to rebound against a conference opponent when the South Florida Bulls (7-13, 1-6) come to town on Sunday. The Mountaineers (-12.5) saw their four-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday with a surprising 75-71 loss to Marshall as 10-point favorites.
West Virginia was coming off an impressive 68-64 win over former #14 Purdue last Sunday behind a balanced scoring attack led by Kevin Jones (17 points) while John Flowers (15), Darryl Bryant (12) and Joe Mazzulla (10) also finished in double figures. That followed a 93-63 rout of Providence on January 13 and a 65-59 victory at Georgetown five days earlier.
Instead of winning their fifth game in a row, the Mountaineers shot a season-low 33 percent form the field against the Thundering Herd in the annual Capital Classic matchup. A 31-3 run by Marshall between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second was simply too much to overcome. West Virginia was outscored 22-3 before halftime and then 9-0 after the intermission, trailing by 23 before pulling within 72-69 with 30 seconds remaining. Casey Mitchell led the Mountaineers with 18 points despite missing 12 of his 17 shots from the field.
South Florida is 0-6 all-time against West Virginia in Big East play and 5-26 against ranked opponents since joining the league. The Bulls broke a seven-game losing streak with a 79-72 home win against Providence last Sunday but fell again at Rutgers 71-62 on Thursday. They were outscored 46-37 by the Scarlet Knights in the second half after the score was tied 25-25 at halftime. Augustus Gilchrist and Hugh Robertson each scored 14 points for South Florida in the loss.
The Bulls have lost the last two meetings with the Mountaineers at home by a combined 33 points but covered the spread in their last visit to Morgantown. South Florida rallied back from a 34-20 halftime deficit and lost 62-59 the last time the teams met at West Virginia. The UNDER has cashed in the last four meetings along with five of the past six. However, the OVER is 8-1 in the last nine game overall for the Bulls, cashing in their last six games. The Mountaineers are 3-1 against the spread in the last four meetings and in their last four games overall.
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