Pittsburgh +5.5 (-110)
Mon Mar 3 ‘08 7:00p
The Pittsburgh Panthers beat the West Virginia Mountaineers at the buzzer 55-54 when they met in Pittsburgh a month ago, and we look for another similarly tight game at Morgantown this evening.

That win marked the Panthers’ fourth straight victory in this head-to-head series, with two of those victories coming here in West Virginia. Now granted, Pittsburgh is much better at home than on the road this season, but it is not as if they are totally incapable on the road, as they are 6-6 ATS away from home and they are coming off of an exhilarating come-from-behind victory at Syracuse on Saturday.

Now West Virginia is 20-9 on the year, but the Mounties rely heavily on their perimeter shooting, and Pittsburgh has already proven they can defend that well, limiting the Mountaineers to just 35.8 percent from the floor in that last meeting. We have already seen what happens to West Virginia when their shots are not falling, even at home where they were embarrassed 62-39 by Cincinnati earlier this year.

Now we do not expect the Mountaineers to shoot 35.8 percent again, but we do think that the stiff Pittsburgh defense will make enough stops to take this game down to the wire again.

CBB Free Pick: Pittsburgh +5.5

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