The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd, 94-71, on Sunday, March 18 in the second round of March Madness. West Virginia covered the spread as 12-point favorites while the game went over the total of 159.5.
The Mountaineers advanced to face Villanova in the Sweet 16. Odds for that matchup will be released soon, but a good guess at a preliminary line is that Villanova will be a 5-point favorite against West Virginia, because West Virginia’s defense is extremely tough and is likely to draw Villanova into a hard-fought slugfest. West Virginia very nearly beat Gonzaga – the national runner-up – in the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament. The line will reflect that.
In this win over Marshall, West Virginia senior and leading player Jevon Carter scored 28 points and was 5 of 7 on three-pointers to give West Virginia a highly efficient three-point shooting offense. The Mountaineers finished 12 of 25 behind the arc, just under 50 percent. A key second scorer for West Virginia was Lamont West. The reserve forward averaged just over nine points per game heading into this contest, but he scored 18 against Marshall to give West Virginia a 39-21 advantage in bench points. A lot of the statistics were similar in this game, but bench points and rebounds (40-24 WVU) were big points of differentiation for the Mountaineers.
Carter’s 28 points for West Virginia stood in marked contrast to the 15 points scored by Marshall star Jon Elmore. On Friday, Elmore torched Wichita State with a steady onslaught of big buckets, but he made just three triples in this game and was contained by WVU’s defense.
West Virginia’s odds to win March Madness were at +3500 before the tournament began. With the win, that number should move to around +1600 at BetDSI Sportsbook before the Sweet 16 begins. The Mountaineers’ next opponent, Villanova, was the favorite to win March Madness with +400 odds before the tournament started. That number will probably remain the same this week.
