Niagara vs West Virginia Prediction 11/2/2026 Today’s College Basketball Picks

The Niagara Purple Eagles and the West Virginia Mountaineers meet Monday in college basketball action from the Hope Coliseum. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. 

Niagara Purple Eagles vs. West Virginia Mountaineers Prediction

I’m on the Mountaineers at home in this one. I get the case to be made for an underdog in some of these spots as this is a big number for WV, but the Purple Eagles are starting over pretty much and maybe that’s not a bad thing, but it’s still a lot to ask to cover this against a solid West Virginia team so I’ll lay it with the Mountaineers in this one.

Niagara Purple Eagles Recap

The Niagara Purple Eagles come into the 2026-27 season looking to forget about 2025-26, finishing the year at 8-22 overall including a 5-15 mark in Metro Conference play. With the 11th spot in the standings, the Niagara Purple Eagles wouldn’t qualify for the conference tournament with only the top-10 teams making the conference tournament. This is a Niagara team that’s pretty much starting from scratch, but Trenton Walters is the top returner for Niagara after logging 7.2 points and 2.7 assists per game in 22.4 minutes per game for Niagara last season. Cole Farrell comes over after logging 6.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game while Tae Blackshear comes over after putting up 6.8 points in 14.6 minutes per game for Youngstown State last season. Greg Paulus is a solid coach, but even he has his work cut out for him in Niagara this season.

Why the Niagara Purple Eagles will win

• West Virginia has lost four of its last five night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• The road team has won the first half in each of Niagara’s last three games.

West Virginia Mountaineers Recap

The West Virginia Mountaineers come into the 2026-27 season hoping to show more improvement after a solid showing in 2025-26 where the Mountaineers went 21-14 overall, including a 9-9 mark in Big 12 conference play. West Virginia would be the 7-seed in the Big 12 tournament, but their stay wouldn’t last long as they fell to BYU 68-48 in the second round. West Virginia would be invited to the College Basketball Crown tournament, and would take out Stanford, Creighton and Oklahoma to win the tournament. This was a team that had a fair amount of transfers in last year, but now face the same problem with the likes of Honor Huff, Chance Moore, Brenen Lorient and Treysen Eaglestaff all gone. The good news for the Mountaineers is that there’s plenty of talent that comes in, including Finley Bizjack who had 17.1 points and 2.5 assists for Butler last season and Javan Buchanan who had 12.6 points and 5 rebounds per game for Boise State in 27.9 minutes per game last season. Mouhammad Sylla comes over from Georgia Tech after logging 9.6 points and 7.2 rebounds last season and Joson Sanon had 8.1 points and 2.5 rebounds for St. John’s last season. The pieces are there for Ross Hodge to have success this season, it’s just about execution for the Mountaineers in an effort to make the Big Dance for the first time since 2023.

Why the West Virginia Mountaineers will win

• West Virginia has won each of its last 17 games against non-Conference opponents at Hope Coliseum.
• Niagara has lost each of its last seven road night games against non-Conference opponents.
• West Virginia has won the first half in each of its last 12 games against non-Conference opponents at Hope Coliseum.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: West Virginia -28.5