It is a matchup of Top 25 teams on Monday night, as the Virginia Cavaliers visit the Virginia Tech Hokies in a game that can be seen on ESPN. The Cavaliers are battling with Duke and North Carolina for the top spot in the ACC, while the Hokies are fighting for fourth place in the conference. Virginia has won seven of the last ten meetings, but they are just 4-6 ATS. Let’s look at the matchup and college basketball picks.
This ACC showdown will take place on Monday, February 18, 2019. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. ET from Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, VA. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
CBB Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
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Odds Analysis
Virginia is coming off what should have been an easy win on Saturday against Notre Dame. The Cavaliers have been an excellent road team this season, going 7-1 ATS, with four games going over and four going under. They are averaging about 72 points per game and giving up just about 54 per contest.
Virginia does a lot of things right, but head coach Tony Bennett wants his team to cut down on turnovers. Virginia committed double-digit turnovers in four straight games before Saturday’s game against Notre Dame. Bennett yelled at his team in the win over North Carolina and the players responded by not turning the ball over at all late in the game and the Cavaliers closed on a 12-2 run to win the game. "They responded they took care of the ball, they understood just get a shot up because afford those," Bennett said to the media.
Virginia Tech bounced back after losses to Louisville and Clemson to defeat Georgia Tech on Wednesday. The Hokies then visited Pittsburgh on Saturday. The win against the Yellow Jackets was a big bounce back for the Hokies. “It feels good to win,” said Virginia Tech guard Ty Outlaw to the media, “We haven’t felt like us the last two or three games. We could feel it. We all did. We had team meetings, just the players, and we [were] going to get this right.” The Hokies are still without point guard Justin Robinson who has a foot injury. They were 2-2 in their first four games without Robinson.
Key Injury
The Hokies are simply not the same team without Robinson in the lineup. They did finally score some points against Georgia Tech, but in their first three games without Robinson they scored 47, 64 and 51. It will be extremely difficult for the Hokies to score points on Monday night against the suffocating Virginia defense.
Key Stats
The Cavaliers have taken seven of the last ten in this series, but they haven’t been covering the spread that often, as they are just 4-6 against the number. Virginia did beat Virginia Tech at home last month by as score of 81-59. Four of the last six meetings in this series have gone under the total. The Cavaliers have won six of the last ten on the road in this series, but they are just 4-5-1 ATS. Five games went over the total and five went under.
Prediction
I said last week that I like Virginia overall, but I doubted them against North Carolina. No more doubting of the Cavaliers for me. This team is really well coached, they have plenty of scoring options and they play outstanding defense. Perhaps if the Hokies had Robinson they could keep this game close, but I don’t see how they can be competitive and have a chance to win this game without Robinson leading the way. I will lay the points and take Virginia. I also can’t see Virginia Tech scoring that many points, so I will also play the game under the total.
CBB Betting Odds: Virginia 69, Virginia Tech 54
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