College Basketball Picks: West Virginia Betting Favorites vs Notre Dame

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the West Virginia Mountaineers will both be trying to pick up a win on Friday night at 9:00pm EST when they battle at Madison Square Garden in a game that can be seen on ESPN. College basketball picks have the Mountaineer listed as 4-point favorites against the Fighting Irish with a betting total of 128.5. Notre Dame kept pace in the second half and managed to sneak out a 50-45 victory over Pittsburgh in the Big East Conference tournament on Thursday, as 2-point underdogs in college basketball odds. That game's 95 points went UNDER the posted total of 126.5. Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson netted 12 points apiece in the win.

Notre Dame netted 32 first half points and cruised to their sixth straight victory holding Pittsburgh to only 16 points in the second half. "I thought we really defended the last seven minutes to win the game, because they defended us," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after the game. "I thought we were fabulous on that end of the floor." Heading into tonight's game on ESPN, the Irish are 23-10 straight up on the season, 16-10-1 against the spread as favorites in college basketball picks and 5-5 after playing the Panthers.

West Virginia came through and advanced past Cincinnati 54-51 on Thursday night in the Big East Conference tournament. West Virginia failed to cover the 9-point spread in college basketball odds while the 105 points went UNDER the posted total of 128.5 at online sportsbooks. Kevin Jones had 17 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia and Da'Sean Butler added 15 including the buzzer beater to land West Virginia in the Big East semifinals and secure the Mountaineers fourth straight win. "We played pretty well early. ... I thought we had a chance to kind of break their back and we kind of let up," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins after the game.

Heading into tonight's match-up, the Mountaineers are 25-6 straight up on the season, 13-17 against the spread as college basketball betting favorites and 5-3 after playing Cincinnati. West Virginia is 3-14 straight up in their last 17 games when playing Notre Dame and 6-1 straight up in their last 7 games. The Fighting Irish are 14-3 straight up in their last 17 games when playing the Mountaineers and 5-0 straight up in their last 5 games. The total has gone UNDER in college basketball odds for 5 of West Virginia's last 5 games when playing Notre Dame. Vegas odds at Caesars sportsbook have the West Virginia Mountaineers -4 betting favorites against Notre Dame with a total of 128.5.