West Virginia vs Elon College Basketball Picks, Best Bets and Odds 11/18/2021

The Elon Phoenix and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet in college basketball action from the TD Arena on Thursday night.

The Elon Phoenix come into this one looking to build on their 89-72 win over subdivision Bluefield College last time out. Zac Ervin leads the Phoenix in scoring with 15.7 PPG along with 5.3 RPG while Hunter McIntosh has 12.7 PPG and Michael Graham has 12 PPG with a team-high 10 RPG to lead the Phoenix on the glass by averaging a double-double per game. Darius Burford has a team-high 4 APG to go along with his 11.7 PPG and 6.7 RPG while Torrence Watson has 11.3 PPG as well this season. As a team, Elon is averaging 85.7 PPG on 48.9% shooting from the field, 42.4% from three and 76.8% from the foul line while allowing 69.3 PPG on 37% shooting from the field and 20.7% from three this season.

The West Virginia Mountaineers will be looking to build on a 74-59 win over Pitt in their last game. Taz Sherman leads the Mountaineers in scoring with 17.5 PPG along with a team-high 4.5 RPG and 3 APG while Jalen Bridges has 12.5 PPG with 4.5 RPG of his own and Sean McNeil has 11 PPG and 3 APG of his own to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for West Virginia through their first two games of the year. Gabe Osabuohien also has 4.5 RPG while Kedrian Johnson has a team-high 3.5 APG as well this season. As a team, West Virginia is averaging 67 PPG on 45.3% shooting from the field, 30.2% from three and 51.7% from the foul line while allowing 56 PPG on 44.1% shooting from the field and 20.7% from three this season.

Elon is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 neutral site games and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. West Virginia is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games following a win while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.

I get the allure of the points or even the over here, but let’s get it straight, the Mountaineers are back to looking like the Mountaineers of old that play suffocating defense. The issue is that WVU doesn’t really score enough to get themselves over the number and in a covering position. On the other hand, Elon hung around with a really good Florida team, but Florida and West Virginia are two different teams on the defensive spectrum and I think this one shapes up as a first to 65 wins. Give me the under here.