NCAA Tournament: West Virginia vs Syracuse 3/21/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions

The West Virginia Mountaineers battle the Syracuse Orange Sunday in the college basketball NCAA Tournament Second Round at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse as March Madness continues.

The Syracuse Orange look for another win after beating San Diego State in the first round. The Syracuse Orange are averaging 75.6 points on 43.6 percent shooting and allowing 70.8 points on 41.6 percent shooting. Buddy Boeheim is averaging 17.7 points and 2.5 rebounds while Alan Griffin is averaging 14.1 points and 1.8 assists. Quincy Guerrier is the third double-digit scorer and Marek Dolezaj is dishing 3.3 assists. The Syracuse Orange are shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc and 78.5 percent from the free throw line. The Syracuse Orange are allowing 31.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 32.7 rebounds per game. 

The West Virginia Mountaineers look for another win after beating Morehead State in the first round. The West Virginia Mountaineers are averaging 77.6 points on 42.8 percent shooting and allowing 72.1 points on 44.2 percent shooting. Miles McBride is averaging 16 points and 3.9 rebounds while Derek Culver is averaging 14.5 points and 9.7 rebounds. Taz Sherman is the third double-digit scorer and Sean McNeil is grabbing 2.1 rebounds. The West Virginia Mountaineers are shooting 35.9 percent from beyond the arc and 71.8 percent from the free throw line. The West Virginia Mountaineers are allowing 32.4 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 35.2 rebounds per game.

The Orange are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The Mountaineers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The over is 5-2 in Orange last 7 overall. The over is 4-1 in Mountaineers last 5 overall. The underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

This has the potential to be a low scoring, defensive battle when you combine Syracuse’s zone and West Virginia’s press, and I usually lean toward the free points where points will be tough to come by. The difference here is Syracuse has seem physical defenses all season, which includes nearly beating Virginia in the ACC Tournament and just beating the snot out of San Diego State in the first round. West Virginia is a talented team on paper, but it also struggles from the outside at times and that’s not going to fly against this Syracuse defense. Syracuse will have its chances to win this game outright. Give me the points.