College Hoops Picks ATS, Feb. 16: Pittsburgh Panthers @ Connecticut Huskies

Pittsburgh Panthers at Connecticut Huskies

Monday, Feb. 16—7:00 PM EST

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Preview

Two of the best teams in college basketball face off Monday night as the current top-ranked Connecticut Huskies (No. 1 AP, No. 1 Coaches, 12-1, 24-1) host the former top-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers (No. 4 AP, No. 4 Coaches, 10-2, 23-2) Monday night.

Both teams have only lost during Big East play, and they are both aiming for the top spot in the conference come the tournament. The Huskies have been on a roll—their only loss was the Big East opener, while the Panthers have suffered minor setbacks along the way.

But the biggest setback was handed to the Huskies when they lost Jerome Dyson to a knee injury last Wednesday. He is their third-highest scorer and has led the team in scoring and other categories on numerous occasions this season. He is due to go in for surgery during the day on Monday.

UConn played their first game without him on Saturday, and they took down the Seton Hall Pirates by eight. They were up by 10 at the half, though, and were not able to finish them off in the second half.

Pittsburgh is currently on a five-game win streak and most recently TKOed Cincinnati by 16 points. 

The best matchup between players is going to happen under the basket, where Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet will take on Pittsburgh forward DeJuan Blair. Both players are averaging double-doubles this season.

If you haven't been watching college hoops this season but feel the need to start preparing for March Madness (after all, it is the middle of February now), this is a great game to start with.

By The Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Pittsburgh	23-2	10-2	12-6-1	1	11	78.3	62.1
Connecticut	24-1	12-1	11-9	3	28	76.9	60.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Pittsburgh	48.6	40.3	36.4	33.5	65.3	42.7	7.7	18.2	11.5
Connecticut	48.0	37.3	36.4	30.7	69.1	44.5	6.0	15.4	12.6

Stats Leaders

	Pittsburgh	Connecticut
PPG	S. Young - 17.9	J. Adrien - 14.0
	D. Blair - 15.4	H. Thabeet - 3.5
	L. Fields - 11.1	J. Dyson - 13.2
RPG	D. Blair - 12.3	H. Thabeet - 10.8
APG	L. Fields - 7.6	A. Price - 4.4
SPG	D. Blair - 1.7	J. Dyson - 1.8
BPG	S. Young - 0.8	H. Thabeet - 4.4

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Prediction

Want to see Ryan's final analysis and prediction? Please head over to CBBPlace.com!

See thousands of free College Basketball Picks Against the Spread this season.

All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com