College Basketball: West Virginia at Georgetown – Georgetown Favored
Team Page: West Virginia :: Georgetown
71% of Bets Placed on W Virginia +9 | Matchup | CBB Picks
Georgetown will be trying for its longest winning streak in more than three years Monday night. There’s little chance the Hoyas will be taking their opponent lightly.
The No. 22 Hoyas (18-5, 8-2) try to win their eighth in a row when they host West Virginia, which is coming off an upset of second-ranked UCLA.
Oddsmakers have made Georgetown -9 point spread favorites (College Basketball Odds) for todays game, the over/under has
been set at 124 total points (View College Basketball Sports Books).
Georgetown matched its longest winning streak of the season Saturday, rolling past No. 11 Marquette 76-58. The Hoyas haven’t won eight straight since a 10-game run from Nov. 21, 2003-Jan. 3, 2004.
"We’re getting better, and our guys definitely have a comfort level with how we want to skin the cat, so to say," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "We’re more poised. A lot of times early in the season teams would make a run, and we’d stand around looking starry eyed."
The Hoyas’ current streak, which has come against conference foes, has them in second place and two games behind Pittsburgh for first in the Big East. The Hoyas are 14-2 since starting the season 4-3.
Georgetown’s opponent Monday should keep it from being at all overconfident. The Hoyas will be facing West Virginia (19-5, 7-4) in the Mountaineers’ first game since they stunned the Bruins 70-65 on Saturday.
"We played with a chip on our shoulder," said West Virginia’s Alex Ruoff, who had a team-high 18 points. "Everybody hit big shots. That shows what kind of guys we have. It’s a dream come true to play here, at this school, and beat UCLA."
The victory was the Mountaineers’ fifth in six games and second in four contests against ranked opponents this season, and they’ll be looking to defeat the Hoyas for the third consecutive time.
To do so, West Virginia will have to beat a surging Georgetown team that seemed to have little trouble knocking off the 11th-ranked team in the country in its most recent impressive performance.
The Hoyas are averaging 73.0 points per game and 54.0 percent shooting from the field during their win streak, while holding opponents to 57.4 points and 39.2 percent.
The key for Georgetown during the run has been its huge frontcourt, led by 7-foot-2, 278-pound Roy Hibbert and 6-9, 235-pound Jeff Green, who are tied for the team lead at 13.1 points per game.
On Saturday, Green matched his career high with 24 points, while Hibbert had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Green is averaging 20.0 points over the last five contests, while Hibbert is averaging 16.4 points and 7.7 boards during the seven-game winning streak.
While the Hoyas will rely on their size advantage, they’ll have to contend with West Virginia’s balanced attack, as five Mountaineers are averaging at least 9.8 points per game.
That depth allowed West Virginia to hang on to defeat UCLA despite poor games from its two top scorers. Frank Young leads West Virginia with 14.3 points per contest but shot 5-for-18 from the field, although he did finish with 14 points.
Joe Alexander, the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer at 12.2 points a game, shot 1-for-7 and scored seven points. He’s totaled just 13 points in the last two games while shooting 3-for-19.
West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting against the Bruins.
by: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
More NCAA College Basketball Coverage from theSpread.com
– NCAA College Basketball teams
– NCAA College Basketball standings
– NCAA College Basketball schedule
– NCAA College Basketball scoreboard
– NCAA College Basketball injuries
– NCAA College Basketball matchups
– NCAA College Basketball stats
– NCAA College Basketball odds
– NCAA College Basketball public betting chart
– NCAA College Basketball news wire
– NCAA College Basketball top stories
– NCAA College Basketball trends
– AccuScore NCAA College Basketball predictions
– Expert NCAA College Basketball picks
– Comments and discussion
– Signup for theSpread.com daily newsletter
– NCAA College Basketball Home