West Virginia Mountaineers vs UMass Minutemen Prediction, 12/16/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: West Virginia Mountaineers vs UMass Minutemen

Date: Saturday, December 16, 2023

Location: MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA

TV: ESPN

MassMutual Center is the location where the UMass Minutemen (5-2) will try to defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers (4-5) on Saturday.

The West Virginia Mountaineers played Drexel and went home with a win by a final score of 66-60 in their last game. Regarding personal fouls, the Mountaineers ended up finishing with 10 and Drexel recorded 11 personal fouls. They also converted 5 of 22 attempts from beyond the arc. Drexel finished the contest at 75.0% when shooting free throws by making 3 of their 4 tries. On top of that, Drexel snagged 35 rebounds (12 offensive, 23 defensive), but finished the game with no rejections. Drexel totaled 9 assists and had 6 steals in the matchup. In reference to defense, West Virginia let their opponent shoot 41.9% from the floor on 26 out of 62 shooting. They also doled out 17 assists in this matchup as well as forcing 16 turnovers and having 6 steals. When talking about getting rebounds, they collected 28 with 9 of them being on the offensive end. At the free throw line, the Mountaineers made 3 of 5 attempts for a rate of 60.0%. West Virginia ended with a 48.3% field goal percentage (28 of 58) and knocked down 7 of 17 three-point attempts.

Jesse Edwards is a guy who was a major contributor in this matchup. He ended up finishing with 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting. He played for 33 minutes and also snagged 5 rebounds. He shot 70.0% from the field and totaled 2 assists.

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West Virginia comes into this contest with a win-loss mark of 4-5 so far this season. They average 64.2 pts per game (346th in the country) while going 39.8% from the floor. The Mountaineers are shooting 29.7% on shots from distance (51 of 172) and 72.5% from the free throw line. As a team, West Virginia is pulling in 37.7 rebounds per contest and has earned 107 dimes so far this year, which is 308th in Division 1 in terms of passing the rock. They turn it over 11.9 times per game and as a team are committing 12.2 fouls per contest.

On defense, the Mountaineers are able to force 9.2 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 18.4 personal fouls. They give up 33.1% on shots from downtown while they are 64th in college basketball in PPG allowed (65.8). The Mountaineers defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 40.8% (225 of 551) and they concede 34.8 rebounds per contest as a squad. They are currently ranked 130th in D-1 in giving up assists with 114 relinquished so far this season.

When they last stepped on the court, the UMass Minutemen took home the win by a final score of 91-77 when they faced UMass Lowell. The Minutemen pulled down 23 defensive rebounds and 15 offensive rebounds for a total of 38 for this game. They coughed up the ball 13 times, while getting 11 steals for this game. UMass Lowell committed 17 personal fouls for this game which took the Minutemen to the free throw line for 20 tries. They were able to bury 16 of them for a percentage of 80.0%. In terms of 3-pointers, UMass knocked down 5 out of 18 tries (27.8%). Overall, the Minutemen finished shooting 35 for 72 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 48.6%. The Minutemen permitted UMass Lowell to make 29 of 68 attempts from the field which left them with a rate of 42.6% in the matchup. They shot 23.8% from behind the 3-point line by going 5 of 21 and ended up shooting 14 out of 21 at the free throw line (66.7%). In relation to cleaning up the glass, UMass permitted UMass Lowell to get 33 in all (13 on the offensive side).

Josh Cohen pitched in for the Minutemen in this game. He accumulated 25 points in his 31 mins of playing time and had 4 dimes in this matchup. He converted 10 out of 15 for this contest for a field goal rate of 66.7%, and earned 14 rebounds.

UMass has a record of 5-2 on the campaign. The Minutemen commit 20.3 personal fouls every game and they go 63.5% from the free throw line. They are earning an assist 18.7 times per contest (15th in D-1) and they turn it over 10.9 times per contest. UMass has totaled 586 pts for the campaign (83.7 per game) and they snag 39.4 boards per contest. In terms of offensive execution, the Minutemen are connecting on 46.3% from the field, which is ranked 119th in college basketball.

The UMass defense allows 32.5% on shots from behind the 3-point line (49 of 151) and opponents are converting on 72.7% of their shots from the free throw line. They concede 12.9 dimes and 37.1 rebounds per game, which is ranked 208th and 268th in college basketball. The Minutemen are ranked 216th in D-1 in points allowed per contest with 72.0. They have forced 15.6 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 39.6% from the floor (48th in college hoops).

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take West Virginia

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