Virginia vs. Pitt Prediction and Odds for Tuesday, January 3 (Panthers Stays Hot at Home)
By Josh Yourish
The No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers are 10-2 and 2-1 in the ACC, but they’re not the biggest story in this game.
The Pitt Panthers having life at 10-4 after an abysmal 1-3 start is. Jeff Capel might finally be figuring it out in Pittsburgh and that’s great news after the school already gave him an unearned extension.
The Panthers just took down UNC 76-74 at home which came after another two-point win over Syracuse. Now, they have a chance to really make a statement against the Cavaliers at the Pete.
Here are the odds for this massive ACC showdown.
Virginia vs. Pitt Odds, Spread and Total
Virginia vs. Pitt Prediction and Pick
This is a case where one team is hot and one team is decided not. The Panthers are 10-3-1 against the spread this season and they’ve won four straight. On the other side, UVA is 4-8 ATS this season and 1-7 ATS in their last eight games.
It took care of business against Georgia Tech and Albany, still not covering, but before that the Cavaliers lost two straight to Miami and Houston. Pitt isn’t the same caliber as those two teams, but they’re playing exceptionally well at the moment.
Against UNC, Jamarius Burton stepped up big for the Panthers with 31 points, and it wasn’t a fluky performance from Pitt because they only made 5-of-25 shots from 3 and shot 46% from the field. UVA is more efficient at both ends of the floor and will likely make Pitt play at their slow pace.
It’ll likely come down to Nelly Cummings and Kihei Clark making decisions with the ball down the stretch and whoever can protect it better will likely win this one.
Pitt has more scoring pop, especially from Blake Hinson, averaging 17.1 a night, so I’ll take the points in this one. UVA has been abysmal against the spread, so maybe Vegas has already made the adjustment, but for now let’s ride this trend until it stops.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change