Since knocking off the then No. 1 Baylor Bears, the No. 7 West Virginia Mountaineers have had major problems. First, West Virginia lost a stunner at home to an Oklahoma squad that gave its’ all against the Mountaineers and then was on the wrong side of another upset when it lost to Kansas State on Saturday night. Those two losses are going to send West Virginia free-falling down the Top 25 rankings, but a home win against the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks would heal a lot of those wounds.
Don’t miss the hardwood action from WVU Coliseum at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on ESPN2. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Tuesday schedule.
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Kansas has yet to lose a game in Big 12 play, but the Jayhawks have been unable to cover spreads against conference foes. Bill Self’s squad is just 2-5 ATS in 7 conference games and are a paltry 6-11 ATS on the year. Each of the Jayhawks’ last four games have gone under the total.
West Virginia has lost five of its last six against the number, with the one win being its thumping of Baylor two weeks ago. Over has been a great bet in Mountaineers’ games this year, with the last six games all finishing above the number. Over is also 5-1 in WVU home games this year.
Key Stat
For ‘Press Virginia’, the goal will always be to force as many turnovers as possible on defense and that leads to a pressing style of play and heavy rotations in order to accomplish the task. The Mountaineers lead the country in steals with 12 a game, one more per game than the next best team, but weren’t able to force as many turnovers as they typically do in their last two losses.
Against Oklahoma, West Virginia just wasn’t able to get the Sooners to make mistakes. In an overtime game, OU turned the ball over just 12 times and shot better than WVU to get the win. This past Saturday against Kansas State, the Mountaineers forced 16 turnovers, but turned the ball over 23 times themselves and that led to a Wildcats victory. They need to force mistakes out of Kansas if they are going to win.
Matchup to Watch
These are two of the highest scoring teams in the country, so you can expect a high total in this game. Kansas is averaging 85.4 PPG and is one of a handful of teams that is hitting over 50 percent of its shots from the floor and over 40 percent of its three-point attempts. The Jayhawks are extremely efficient and although they don’t play great defense, they limit opposing teams’ possessions.
Conversely, West Virginia attempts to play at breakneck speed and is a deep team set up to outwork its opponents. The Mountaineers aren’t nearly as efficient as the Jayhawks, but score more points because they put up, and allow, more shots a game.
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The Jayhawks should be scoring more points each time out, but have been dreadful from the foul line. Kansas is one of the worst shooting teams in the nation, hitting just 64 percent of its free throws. Self knows how important it is to make your free throws; he won his lone national title against a Memphis team that couldn’t sink its freebies down the stretch.
It may be hard to imagine West Virginia losing three in a row, but Kansas is a veteran heavy team, especially at the guard position and should be able to handle WVU’s pressure. The Jayhawks won’t make silly mistakes here and that will give them a comfortable win.
College Basketball Odds: Kansas 83, West Virginia 75
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