West Virginia vs Oklahoma State College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/11/21

The Oklahoma State Cowboys and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet in a Big 12 conference quarter-final matchup in college basketball action from the T-Mobile Center on Thursday afternoon.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys come into the conference tournament as the #5 seed after finishing the year with a conference record of 11-7 as part of their 18-7 overall mark this season. Cade Cunningha leads the Cowboys in scoring with 19.7 PPG along with 6.3 RPG and 3.5 APG while Avery Anderson III has 11.1 PPG with 4 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Oklahoma State so far this season. Kalib Boone has 9.9 PPg with 5.4 RPG and Isaac Likekele has 9.8 PPG with team-highs of 6.9 RPG and 3.7 APG as well this season to lead the Cowboys in rebounding and in assists. Matthew Alexander Moncrieffe also has 9.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG this season. As a team, Oklahoma State is averaging 76.7 PPG on 46.6% shooting from the field and 33.8% from three while allowing 72.3 PPG on 41% shooting from the field and 32.2% from three this season.

The West Virginia Mountaineers come into the conference tournament as the #4 seed after finishing with an 11-6 record in conference play as part of their 18-8 overall mark this season. Miles McBride leads the Mountaineers in scoring with 15.3 PPG and in assists with 4.7 APG while Derek Culver has 14.8 PPG with a team-high 9.8 RPG to lead the Mountaineers in rebounding. Taz Sherman has 13.4 PPG while Sean McNeil has 11.9 PPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for West Virginia up to this point in the season. As a team, West Virginia is averaging 77.6 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field and 35.9% from three while allowing 72.1 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field and 32.4% from three this season.

Oklahoma State is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 21-4-1 in their last 26 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. West Virginia is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 neutral site games while the over is 20-8-1 in their last 29 games overall.

I get that this is a high total, the highest number between the two since 2017 and with so much on the line, we may see more of a defensive approach to this game. However, the two meetings in the regular season blew past this number, and realistically, I see no reason to think any different here. These two teams can score points in bunches and I wouldn’t be surprised to see both teams finish in the high-70s here if they don’t get into the 80s so give me the over as my free pick for this game. My stronger play though is on the side and I have that available as a premium play that you can find as part of my college basketball season pass here.