Syracuse vs. West Virginia Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
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Nik Kowalski
Buddy Boeheim couldn’t miss, and neither could the No. 11 Syracuse Orange who have advanced to the Round of 32 for a clash with the No. 4 West Virginia Mountaineers. Boeheim’s 30 points on seven-of-10 shooting from the three-point line was one of Friday’s best individual performances — right up with Mountaineers guard Miles McBride who also dropped 30 points along with six rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Tip-off at Bankers Life Fieldhouse is set for 5:15 p.m. EST.
Syracuse vs. West Virginia NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Both Syracuse and West Virginia shot the lights out in their tournament-opening games. The Orange were above 55 per cent in both their field goal and three-point shooting, knocking down 15 treys in their Round of 64 dub over San Diego State. The Mountaineers also hit more than they missed, drilling 50.8 per cent of their attempted field goals.
Each offence averaged over 75 a night this season, and with their high totals to open the tournament oddsmakers have listed the over at 147.5 — Sunday’s highest number. Nineteen of West Virginia’s 28 games hit the over this season, including 11 of their last 14 to end the year.
The Mountaineers are also a 3.5-point favourite.
(11) Syracuse Orange
There might not be a hotter player in the tournament than Buddy Boeheim — see his shot-clock-beating logo shot Friday for evidence. The 6-foot-6 guard has scored 26 or more in four of his last five games, including back-to-back 30-point showings. Boeheim’s doing most of his damage from the arc with 26 made threes in those five games.
It wasn’t just the Orange’s offence that impressed on Friday, as they held the Aztecs to just 18 first-half points albeit the final 20 minutes turned into a shootout with 90 combined points. Syracuse was able to shoot 11-of-13 from the charity stripe too, allowing them to get out to as big as a 27-point lead.
(4) West Virginia Mountaineers
Boeheim’s three-point show was entertaining, but Miles McBride put forth one of the most complete games on Friday. The sophomore guard played a team-high 36 minutes to take some of the load off centre Derek Culver and freshman forward Jalen Bridges, who played 24 and 30 minutes respectively but still combined for 27 points.
The 84-67 win was also the 900th career victory for head coach Bob Huggins. The celebration for Huggins and Co. should be momentarily though, as they have to step up their defence for Sunday after allowing Morehead State to hit 52 per cent of their field goals and go 10 of 19 from deep. Both won’t cut it against the Orange.
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