by Chuck Sommers
Wednesday, Jan 18, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, WV
Where to watch: BIG12/ESPN+
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: West Virginia -2; WVU -130, TCU +110; O/U 148
FanDuel: NL
BetMGM: West Virginia -2.5; O/U 148.5
Caesars: West Virginia -2; WVU -130, TCU +110
Season record
No. 14 TCU: 14-3 (3-2 Big 12)
West Virginia: 10-7 (0-5 Big 12)
We’re nearing the halfway mark of the college basketball season and it’s been quite the ride so far. Will Rogers is going hard in the last 30 days with a 16-10-1 run, while Kyle Hunter has also had a strong run of form as of late at 28-24-0 (+$1,700). If they’ve been killing it as much as they were in the first half, what does the second half have in store? The only way you’re going to find out is by staying locked on bigal.com and following what our champion handicappers are up to heading into the second half. Trust us, you want to know.
TCU - West Virginia preview, prediction and analysis
Recent form
TCU: won 82-68 vs. No. 13 Kansas State
West Virginia: lost 77-76 at Oklahoma
The TCU Horned Frogs will look to win a second consecutive game when they head to Morgantown to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday.
TCU is coming off an 82-68 win at home against the Kansas State Wildcats, who just knocked off No. 2 Kansas on Tuesday. If you’re looking for resume-building wins, that’s one that’s going to count big time come March in terms of seeding.
Four players scored in double figures for TCU, led by Emmanuel Miller’s 23 points and eight rebounds, while Eddie Lampkin, Jr. was next in line with 17 points. Mike Miles Jr. had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds and could’ve had more of an impact if he shot better than 6 of 15 from the floor.
“I wasn’t making shots early, so you’ve got to do something else to affect the game,” said Miles, who entered as the Big 12′s second-leading scorer at 19.5 points a game.
This has certainly been the year of the Big 12 with so many quality teams in the top 25. TCU is no exception, now No. 14 in the nation. At 3-2 in conference play, though, there’s a lot of teams to look up at. Kansas State now sits atop the conference at 5-1 after handing Kansas its first conference loss of the year, and then there’s Iowa State at 5-1 (No. 12 in the nation), No. 7 Texas (4-2) and No. 21 Baylor (3-3). This conference is absurdly stacked this year.
TCU is a strong 8-2 in their last 10 and is also 7-2-1 in its last 10 against the spread. TCU got an ATS spread despite losing to Texas and Iowa State.
“I’ve been telling them I’ve been open. Now they’re trusting me,” the 6-foot-11, 263-pound Lampkin said of his teammates. “They’re trusting me better, and my confidence is getting better every game.”
West Virginia has been on a horrendous slide after starting the year 10-2. The Mountaineers have lost five in a row and are coming off a 77-76 loss at Oklahoma on Saturday.
Tre Mitchell led the way with 16 points on 7 of 8 shooting in 37 minutes, and Kedrian Johnson had 13 points, but the difference came down to Jalen Hill from Oklahoma making four free throws in the final minute for the victory.
West Virginia has also plummeted against the spread. While covering as a 3.5-point underdog in the loss to Oklahoma, that snapped a six-game ATS losing streak against the likes of Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State. One of those losses was as 27-point favorites against Stony Brook in an 11-point loss. That’s when this whole situation started tumbling down.
Prediction
TCU hasn’t had a comfortable win in a hot minute. Even against Kansas State, there was always the fear of letting them back in the game. The Horned Frogs need a good ‘whoop ‘em’ game and this seems like the good time to make it happen. TCU 78, West Virginia 62
Betting trends
TCU is 16-5 ATS as an underdog the last 2 seasons.
TCU is 11-3 ATS on the road after winning 4 or 5 of their last six the last 3 seasons.
West Virginia is 8-17 ATS against conference opponents the last 2 seasons.
West Virginia is 1-7 ATS after scoring 75 points or more in 2 straight games this season.
Projected starting lineup
TCU:
PG: Mike Miles Jr.
SG: Damion Baugh
SF: Chuck O’Bannon Jr.
PF: Emmanuel Miller
C: Eddie Lampkin Jr.
West Virginia:
PG: Kedrian Johnson
SG: Erik Stevenson
SF: Emmitt Matthews Jr.
PF: Tre Mitchell
C: Jimmy Bell Jr.
Statistical leaders
TCU:
Points: Mike Miles Jr. – 19.0
Rebounds: Eddie Lampkin Jr. – 7.3
Assists: Mike Miles Jr. – 3.4
West Virginia:
Points: Tre Mitchell – 13.6
Rebounds: Tre Mitchell – 5.9
Assists: Kedrian Johnson – 3.4
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
