West Virginia (2-1) vs Iona (1-3)
November 20, 2024 at 07:00 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: West Virginia -13 / Iona +13— Over/Under:
The Iona Gaels and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet Wednesday in college basketball action from WVU Coliseum. Here’s an Iona vs West Virginia prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Iona vs West Virginia pick. We will examine:
The Iona Gaels’ recent form and player performance
The West Virginia Mountaineers’ recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Iona Gaels
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the West Virginia Mountaineers
Recent betting trends in games played between Iona and West Virginia
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Iona vs West Virginia game
Iona Gaels Betting Preview
Iona kicked off the season with three straight losses, but they were reasonably close in a couple of them. First was an 81-80 defeat by Princeton, then a 90-76 loss to Hofstra. Game three was a 64-58 defeat at the hands of Delaware.
The Gaels finally got into the win column on Friday versus Vermont. Iona came out of halftime with a 31-23 deficit but caught fire on a 39-28 run from there for a comeback win 62-59. DeJour Reaves led the team with 22 points with five boards.
West Virginia Mountaineers Betting Preview
Over on the West Virginia side, they’ve got three games in the books so far this year. The Mountaineers’ year began with an 87-59 blowout victory over Robert Morris. Game two was a 75-69 win over UMass.
The Mountaineers suffered their first loss back on Friday versus Pittsburgh. West Virginia was drilled 44-22 in the first half and couldn’t get any closer than that in an 86-62 result. Jonathan Powell led the team with 16 points and four rebounds in 29 minutes of work. West Virginia will meet Gonzaga and Georgetown after this game.
Why the West Virginia Mountaineers will win
- West Virginia has won 37 of its last 44 night games against non-conference opponents at WVU Coliseum.
- Iona has lost four of its last five night games.
- West Virginia has won the first half in each of its last five night games against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Why the Iona Gaels will win
- West Virginia has lost 11 of its last 14 games.
Iona vs West Virginia Prediction
I’ll stay with West Virginia. The Mountaineers were demolished by a pretty good Pittsburgh team in their last outing. WVU shot 38.7 percent from the field and just 20.7 percent (6-of-29) from 3-point range with a 45-32 rebounding disadvantage in that defeat. The good news is that West Virginia scored 75 or more points in their other two games and should match up very well here.
As for Iona, they shot just 36.8 percent from the field with 19 turnovers in their comeback win over Vermont. The Gaels did have a 45-21 rebounding edge (19-1 offensive) however, which helped guide the victory. Iona has 62 or fewer points in consecutive games now, and that’s not going to cut it against West Virginia at home.