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For the first time since joining the ACC, the Miami Hurricanes are looking to make the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons. Miami is not the team it was last year, but still has plenty of talent and a solid coach looking to get it back to March Madness. However, the Hurricanes have a tough road ahead with perhaps its toughest game being on Monday night when they take on the No. 14 Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia may have taken a step back this season, but is still one of the most formidable sides in the conference.
Don’t miss the hardwood action from John Paul Jones Arena at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, February 20, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on ESPN. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Monday schedule.
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Miami got a huge win over North Carolina at the end of January, but has struggled to get other quality victories that would help its resume. The Hurricanes were beaten by double-digits by both FSU and Duke and came close to knocking off Louisville last weekend but ended up falling short. A win here would give the Canes a second big conference victory and likely guarantee at least a .500 conference season.
Virginia has been in a bit of a rough patch, having lost four of its last six games. The Cavaliers’ loss to Villanova was expected, but UVA was favored in its losses against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Duke. Unsurprisingly, the under has been a great play in Virginia games this season with the under having a 6-3-1 record in away games.
Key Loss
This game will be the last one in a three-game suspension for starting point guard Ja’Quan Newton. Newton was suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules shortly before the Canes beat Georgia Tech earlier in the week.
Miami wasn’t affected much without Newton’s playmaking abilities against the Yellow Jackets but will be feeling the loss much more against the Cavaliers. Newton leads the team in assists and his second on the team in points and his combination of creativity and penetration would have created better looks for Miami’s shooters against a suffocating Virginia defense.
Letdown/Lookahead Situation
Both Miami and Virginia will be playing their third game in six days when tipoff happens on Monday night, but the quality of competition is completely different.
Whereas Miami will have home games against relative lightweights Georgia Tech and Clemson before this game, the Cavaliers have a home game against Duke and a road game against North Carolina. Virginia will likely have lost three in a row heading into its tilt against Miami and if it can’t get itself in the right state of mind, might be in trouble for this game as well.
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Despite their recent woes, advanced metrics believe that Virginia is a significantly better team than Miami. That goes double for Ken Pomeroy and his rating system. Pomeroy has Virginia as not only the best ACC team in the nation, but the third-best team overall in the nation as well. He attributes their record to bad luck and a tough schedule more than anything else.
Of Virginia’s seven losses only two were decisive. As for the others, two went to overtime, FSU beat UVA with a three-pointer with 4 seconds left, Syracuse mounted a furious second-half rally, and Villanova got a tip-in as the horn sounded to get the win.
Virginia is better than its record indicates and the Cavaliers are going to get a big win here. Without Newton, the Hurricanes are going to have a hard time creating offense and the Cavaliers will slowly wear them down over the course of the game for a double-digit win.
College Basketball Odds: Virginia 71, Miami 57
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