West Virginia vs Buffalo 12/18/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Buffalo Bulls and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet in college basketball action from the WVU Coliseum on Sunday.

The Buffalo Bulls will look to rebound from an 88-63 loss to Tulane last time out. Curtis Jones leads the Bulls in scoring and assists with 14.9 PPG and 2.7 APG along with 5.2 RPG. Zid Powell has 13.8 PPG with 4.5 RPG and 2.7 APG of his own as the only other double-digit scorer for Buffalo up to this point in the year. LaQuill Hardnett also has a team-high 5.9 RPG to lead the Bulls on the glass up to this point in the season. As a team, Buffalo is averaging 75 PPG on 44.1% shooting from the field, 29.6% from three and 70.3% from the foul line this season.

The West Virginia Mountaineers will try to build on an 81-70 win over UAB in their last game. Erik Stevenson leads the Mountaineers in scoring with 13.6 PPG while Tre Mitchell has 12.9 PPG with 4.6 RPG and Joe Toussaint has 11.3 PPG with a team-high 3.5 APG to lead the Mountaineers in assists and Emmitt Matthews Jr. has 10.8 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for WVU up to this point in the year. Jimmy Bell Jr. also leads the Mountaineers in rebounding with 5.7 RPG as well this season. As a team, West Virginia is averaging 80.5 PPG on 49.7% shooting from the field, 37.4% from three and 73.9% from the foul line this season.

Buffalo is 5-0-2 ATS in their last 7 games following a loss by 20+ points and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games following an ATS loss while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. West Virginia is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the over is 24-8 in their last 32 games overall.

I get the case to be made on either side here, but I’m leaning towards West Virginia at home. The Bulls’ lone road game saw them fall to UConn and this year, there’s absolutely no shame in that, but that doesn’t help them here against a West Virginia team that’s rock solid defensively and that Press Virginia defense at home with that crowd is intimidating. I’ll side with the Mountaineers in a big win and cover here.