West Virginia vs Cincinnati Odds & Prediction: Bet Bearcats in Blowout

It's time to dive into the West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Cincinnati Bearcats odds and make a prediction for Tuesday's Big 12 Tournament clash.

The Big 12 is the best conference in the country, according to KenPom’s rankings. The conference tournament tips off in Kansas City on Tuesday and the Cincinnati Bearcats take on the West Virginia Mountaineers.

This should be an intriguing game, so let's make a Cincinnati vs. West Virginia pick.

Cincinnati has shown some promise, but this just hasn't been West Virginia’s season. In fact, West Virginia’s season looked lost before it started. Bob Huggins and the team mutually parted ways, then several players entered the transfer portal, which put the team in an impossible position.

The Mountaineers went 9-22 (4-14 in conference), but did boast surprising wins over Texas and Kansas.

Upon diving deeper into the numbers, it's clear that West Virginia is just painfully mediocre. Josh Eilert’s squad ranks 156th in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Mountaineers only rank inside the top 100 of two important categories — free-throw rate and free-throw rate allowed.

The only way WVU competes in a conference tournament game is if Kerr Kriisa and RaeQuan Battle go scorched earth from 3. Battle is only shooting 33% from deep, but is always capable of going off. Meanwhile, Kriisa has settled into a nice role as WVU’s point guard and is shooting over 42% from 3 in his first season in Morgantown.

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Cincinnati struggled in its first season in the Big 12 and finished just 7-11 in conference play. Cincinnati lurked on the NCAA Tournament bubble during the early stages of league play, but just couldn’t seal the deal against top-tier teams.

Cincinnati never found any offensive consistency and ranked 75th in offensive efficiency, which led to the struggles.

The two biggest problems plaguing Wes Miller’s team are shooting and turnovers as the Bearcats are only shooting only 32% from 3 (274th nationally) and have a 17% turnover rate (210th nationally.) I think the bigger issue is a lack of guards. Three guards — Day Day Thomas, Simas Lukosius and Dan Skillings average over 10 points per game, but all shoot 41% or worse from the field and 33% or worse from 3. There just aren’t any reliable scoring threats on this roster.

At least Cincinnati's two starting bigs — Aziz Bandaogo and Viktor Lakhin — carve out second-chance opportunities. The Bearcats have a top-20 offensive rebounding rate in the country, which could play a role against West Virginia.

Coach Miller has relied on his defensive roots. Miller is known for his defensive chops and the Bearcats rank 17th nationally in defensive efficiency.

These teams split the season series as each won on its home court. However, I think the Bearcats will come out on top in this one and that they'll both secure a double-digit win and cover.

Pick: Cincinnati -9.5 (Play to -11)