Virginia vs Pittsburgh 12/3/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Pitt Panthers and the Virginia Cavaliers meet in ACC college basketball action from the John Paul Jones Arena on Friday night.

The Pitt Panthers will be out to bounce back from a 54-53 loss to Minnesota in their last game. John Hugley leads the Panthers in scoring and rebounding with 15.9 PPG and 8.1 RPG while Femi Odukale has 12.1 PPG, 4 RPG and a team-high 3.7 APG as the only other double-digit scorer for Pitt so far this season. Jamarius Burton also has 8 PPG for the Panthers on the year. as a team, Pitt is averaging 60.9 PPG on 42.9% shooting from the field, 26.7% from three and 61% from the foul line while allowing 67.3 PPG on 42% shooting from the field and 36.1% from three this season.  

The Virginia Cavaliers will look to bounce back from a 75-74 loss to Iowa in their last matchup. Jayden Gardner leads the Cavaliers in scoring and rebounding with 14 PPG and 8.2 RPG while Armaan Franklin has 11.8 PPG and Kihei Clark has 10.9 PPG with 4 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Virginia this season. Reece Beekman also has a team-high 4.4 APG as well this season. As a team, Virginia is averaging 63 PPG on 43.6% shooting from the field, 34.8% from three and 70.8% from the foul line while allowing 56.3 PPG on 39.1% shooting from the field and 32% from three this season.

Pitt is 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a loss and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games following three or more straight home games while the under is 13-3 in their last 16 Friday games. Virginia is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 home games and 4-11 ATS in their last 15 home games while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400.

I get the case that could be made both ways as you’re not used to seeing numbers like these with Virginia or maybe you’re not comfortable laying points with a defense first team like the Cavaliers. However, Pitt might be the worst Power-6 team in the country this season and I’m not going anywhere near them especially against a team like Virginia that may be able to make them actually look worse than they are. Give me the Cavaliers laying the points here.