College Basketball Picks: The West Virginia Mountaineers will look to stay perfect on the season as they host the LSU Tigers on Thursday in a contest that can be seen on ESPN 2. The Mountaineers come into this game at 7-0 and ranked in the Top 25 in the country. They will be facing an LSU team that is playing with just one day of rest as they hosted Massachusetts on Tuesday. Let’s look at the matchup and college basketball picks.
First True Road Game for LSU
How is this for your first road game of the season? The Tigers have to go into Morgantown and play the Mountaineers with just one day of rest. The Tigers were home against UMass on Tuesday so now they have to go on the road on Thursday and play at West Virginia. It looks like a sure road loss.
The Tigers are only averaging about 73 points per game while allowing 68 points per contest. They went 4-2 in their first six games of the season but they were just 1-4 against the college basketball betting odds in their games that were lined.
West Virginia Mountaineers 7-0 SU, 4-2 ATS
The Mountaineers have looked really good so far this season with seven wins and four covers. The offense is averaging 82 points per game and the defense is only allowing 62 points per game. The team leads the Big 12 in steals with 97 in just seven games which means they are averaging more than 10 per contest. In their last game they had 24 points off turnovers. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins is pleased with his team’s play but he realizes they must be prepared for a tough LSU team on Thursday.
“Their front line is athletic a front line as we’re going to play. They’re not as big as Texas, but they’re every bit or more athletic than Texas,” Huggins said. “All that weak stuff that we throw up around the rim they’re going to throw out of bounds.”
Game Notes
These teams have not played since 2005 when the Tigers won 71-68 on the road. They also played in 2004 and it was the Mountaineers winning on the road by a score of 84-69.
College Basketball Picks
The situation definitely dictates the play here as LSU is playing with just one day of rest while West Virginia has been off for almost a week. We’ll lay the points and take the Mountaineers in this one.
