Connecticut Huskies at West Virginia Mountaineers, WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, WV
Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 7 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN2
Opening Line: West Virginia -4.5
Current Line: West Virginia -4.5
Opening Total: 131
Current Total: 131.5
Money Line: West Virginia -210 / UConn +175
The 16th-ranked Connecticut Huskies (21-7, 9-7 Big East) and West Virginia Mountaineers (18-10, 9-7) are stuck in a logjam in the race for one of the conference’s top eight spots in their postseason tournament and can clear things up a bit on Wednesday in a key league matchup. The Mountaineers (-4.5) host the Huskies and can vault over them in the standings with a victory, as both teams are involved in a four-way tie for seventh place at the moment.
However, West Virginia has been unable to find any consistency lately, something that could leave the team playing on the first day of conference tourney action with another loss here. The Mountaineers have failed to post consecutive wins since beating Seton Hall a month ago. They are 2-5 against the spread in their last seven games to go along with a 3-4 straight-up record during that stretch and coming off a 65-54 victory at Rutgers on Sunday.
The Scarlet Knights kept it close in the first half and trailed just 25-22 at halftime. Darryl Bryant scored 11 of his team-high 15 points before the intermission for West Virginia, which pulled away a bit in the second half thanks to a 13-0 run. John Flowers also scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers while Kevin Jones added 12 and 11.
Like West Virginia, Connecticut has had trouble putting together much of a positive run down the stretch. The Huskies are 4-5 SU in their last nine games, going 3-6 ATS. They had lost two straight games before pulling off a big 67-59 win at Cincinnati on Sunday. They made half of their shots from the field against the Bearcats (23 of 46) and sank 10 of 19 attempts from 3-point range (53 percent), getting three apiece from Jeremy Lamb and Roscoe Smith. Leading scorer Kemba Walker scored 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting while Lamb had a game-high 17.
Walker has totaled 16 in two of the last three games, averaging nearly 27 points in three other games over the last five. He has not looked like the same player as he was during the first couple months of the season but continues to log major minutes, playing 38 or more in each of the past five games.
UConn is 3-1 SU and ATS in the last four meetings with the Mountaineers, as the underdog has covered the last three games between the teams. The UNDER has cashed in the last two meetings after the total went OVER in the four previous meetings before that.
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