After kicking media darling Duke out of the dance early on a late shot by Eric Maynor, No.11-seed Virginia Commonwealth (28-6) faces another daunting opponent, the three-seed Pitt Panthers (28-7), in a West Region second-round game today at 5:50 p.m. ET at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. Pitt advanced to its second round game by defeating Wright State in the first round on Thursday. In the later West Region game in Sacramento’s Arco Arena, two-seed UCLA (27-5) plays seven-seed Indiana (21-10) with an 8:10 p.m. ET tip-off. Today’s winners will advance to the West Regional NCAA Final 16.
UCLA had an easy time of it in the first round game on Thursday by defeating the 15-seed Weber State Wildcats of the Big Sky Conference 70-42 behind the 22 points scored and eight boards and two assists by Arron Affalo. Indiana got 22 points and seven rebounds from Roderick Wilmont leading the Hoosiers to a 70-57 win over 10-seed Gonzaga in their first round game.
Pitt is favored in its game with VCU , installed by oddsmakers with a -7 ½ point chalk with a 134 total. The price on the money line (ML) is -330 for Pitt while a ML win on VCU will pay +265. Betting trends show Pitt is 4-2 against the spread (ATS) in its last six games and has gone 18-5 straight up in its last 23 games. The total has gone OVER in four of the Panthers last six games.
VCU is 5-0 SU and has gone 3-of-5 ATS in its last five games with the total going OVER in 18 of the Rams last 24 games.
UCLA is favored in its game with Indiana by a -7.0 chalk with 125 ½ total at most offshore sportsbooks. A ML bet on UCLA is a little pricey at -350 while a win by Indiana will pay +275 ML. The Bruins have gone 20-5 SU in their last 25 games and have covered their last 3-of-5 ATS. The OVER has cashed seven times for the total in the last 10 games.
Point-Spreads.com pick: VCU +7 1/2 and UCLA -7.0.
