College Basketball Betting: Huskies at Panthers
Posted on March 05, 2009 | 5:06 PM ET Filed under:The Big East season ends with a bang when two teams who both have been ranked No. 1 in the nation this season, the Pittsburgh Panthers and Connecticut Huskies, hook up in Steel City (noon Eastern, CBS) for their final game before the conference tournament next week.
Connecticut, at 15-2, is tied with Louisville for first place in the Big East, while Pitt at 14-3 lurks one game back. Louisville plays at West Virginia on Saturday (9 pm Eastern, ESPN). And the Huskies and Panthers won't just be playing with shares of a conference title at stake; Saturday's game will go a ways toward deciding some of the top seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Pitt rallied from nine points down early in the second half Wednesday night vs. Marquette, going off on a 21-2 run on its way to a 90-75 victory. On the other side of this matchup, the Huskies have had all week off after beating Notre Dame last Saturday 72-65.
Pittsburgh has now won 20 games in a row at home, and is 8-4 against the spread at the Petersen Center this season. Meanwhile, Connecticut is 10-0 straight up and 7-2 ATS on the road this season.
In the first meeting this season between these two teams, the Panthers outmuscled UConn – the top-ranked team in the land at the time – 76-68 in Hartford three weeks ago. The Huskies had no answer for Pitt F DeJuan Blair, who went off for 22 points and 23 boards while dominating the middle. And the Panthers outrebounded Connecticut 48-31. Pitt won that game outright as 2.5-point underdogs, and the game eased over its total of 134.
Pitt ascended to the No. 1 spot in the rankings after that win, but fell to Providence eight days later and lost the honor. Now the Panthers get a chance to pull some kind of rarity, in beating the same No. 1-ranked team twice in a season.
Connecticut's only other loss this season was a 74–63 decision to Georgetown just after Christmas.
Pittsburgh's other two defeats this season occurred at Louisville and at Villanova.
The totals are 8-15 in Huskies games this season, which have averaged 138 points. The over/unders are 13-10 in Panthers games this season, which have averaged 143 points.
Oddsmaker.com is listing Pittsburgh as co-favorites, along with North Carolina, at +300 on its updated NCAA basketball championship betting board. The Panthers and Tar Heels are followed on the Oddsmaker Big Dance board by UConn and Oklahoma at +600, Wake Forest at +1,000, Louisville at +1,200, Memphis at +1,500, and Duke, Kansas and Michigan State at +2,000.
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