College Hoops Picks: Pittsburgh Panthers @ West Virginia Mountaineers

Preview

After suffering their first loss of the season, the Pittsburgh Panthers (No. 4 AP, No. 4 Coaches, 5-1, 17-1) rebounded against the Syracuse Orange, dominating them 78-60 and showing why they temporarily reigned as the top team in the country.

West Virginia (3-2, 14-4) is coming off of a fantastic performance where they crushed the Georgetown Hoyas on the road. After being ranked for a few weeks and then falling out of the Top 25 after being blown out at Marquette, the Mountaineers are trying to prove that they deserve to be back in the spotlight—what better way to do that than upsetting two Top 25 teams in a matter of days?

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Pittsburgh	17-1	5-1	8-5	2	7	77.2	59.4
West Virginia	14-4	3-2	7-7	14	16	73.4	58.9

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG
Pittsburgh	47.4	38.0	35.6	32.0	64.5	44.1	7.8	17.9
West Virginia	43.6	40.0	33.1	26.6	65.2	42.3	7.8	14.7

Prediction

Current Line: West Virginia -1.0

Pittsburgh ATS: 8-5, 1-1 when underdog
West Virginia ATS: 7-7, 5-6 when favored

The Mountaineers were able to both play lights out and capitalize on unforced errors against the Hoyas. The Panthers have shown that they do not make the same kinds of mistakes. In their lone loss of the season, they were outscored by six points when their top two players both had off nights. The stars aren't going to align like that again.

Pick: Pittsburgh +1.0

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*