Score Predictions for West Virginia vs Portland State
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The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-1) meet the Portland State Vikings (2-3) Friday night at nine o'clock and the action will broadcast on ESPN News.
Schuyler Callihan: West Virginia 79, Portland State 69
West Virginia showed a lot of fight in the loss to Purdue on Thursday night despite being in serious foul trouble for much of the evening and not being able to knock down shots, especially from the perimeter. It was the first time the Mountaineers had been punched in the mouth and tested this season and although the result may not show it, they responded well with toughness and effort.
I've got West Virginia bouncing back tonight with a 10-point win over an underrated Portland State team. The Vikings played Portland and Oregon State tough already this season, and I believe they'll do the same tonight against the Mountaineers. WVU starts to get separation at the end of the first half and cruises to victory.
Christopher Hall: West Virginia 77 Portland State 63
Portland State is undersized, but they do have several big guards starting with leading scorer Jorell Saterfield's team-leading 18.2 points per game. In total four guards are averaging double figures in scoring, including six-foot-six Junior Woods (11.6 ppg) leads the team in rebounds with 6.6 per game.
West Virginia will have to prepare mentally after missing an opportunity to knock off No. 24 Purdue and lost a chance to play national championship contender Gonzaga. They will not have a marquee matchup now, but losses will hurt their tournament resume.
I suspect WVU will play with effort, but the poor shooting does give cause for concern. However, West Virginia has too much talent in what will be a tightly contested game and the Mountaineers will eventually pull away from the Vikings 77-63.
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