Spread & Over/Under Predictions for West Virginia vs. Mount St. Mary's

It's almost time to roll out the carpet and throw the ball up in the air in Morgantown. Tonight, West Virginia will open the regular season against Mount St. Mary's.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, West Virginia enters this one as a massive favorite. Can they cover the big point spread?

Spread: West Virginia -19.5

Prediction: West Virginia covers.

I have this right around a 20-point game, but I'll have to give a slight lean to West Virginia here. The main reason is the shooting ability of Honor Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff. If either one of them or both catches fire, then it's going to be extremely difficult for Mount St. Mary's to keep pace over the course of 40 minutes.

Two years ago, Mount St. Mary's actually did a pretty good job of hanging around in these games against bigger programs despite having a bad year. Weirdly, they did not fare well in these matchups a year ago, losing by 34 to Maryland, 28 to Georgetown, and 44 to Duke. They did beat Miami (FL) in overtime, but that was an atrocious Hurricanes team that won just seven games all year.

Total: 138.5

Prediction: Under.

Ross Hodge has always hung his hat on the defensive end of the floor, and while this bunch is far from where they want and need to be defensively, they're still a competent group that can string together stops and will play with max effort. There will be some breakdowns, which is to be expected when you have an entirely new roster, but they will do everything they can to take away easy, clean looks. The fear here is that WVU's two aforementioned sharpshooters send this thing up and over, but I expect Mount St. Mary's to hang in the 50s.

Note: Our predictions are not to be taken as gambling advice. These predictions are simply to give an opinion on what we think will happen in this week's game.

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Spread: West Virginia -19.5

Total: 138.5

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