Richmond Spiders vs. West Virginia Mountaineers Betting Picks

The 4-0 Richmond Spiders will go on the road Sunday afternoon to face off with the 4-1 West Virginia Mountaineers at 1:00 PM ET in WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers come in as 7.5-point home favorites and we’re expecting plenty of points with a 147.5 over/under. The Spiders have already upset one elite team and will look to follow suit. Let’s dive into how this one will go down and who will end up covering the spread. 

• Mountaineers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
• Mountaineers are 24-8 ATS in their last 32 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
• Under is 6-1 in Spiders last 7 Sunday games.
• Under is 8-2-1 in Mountaineers last 11 games as a home favorite.

Richmond is led by 6’10 forward Grant Golden. The offense runs through the big man and has averaged 15.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in just over 22 minutes per game. He will play around 30 minutes if he can avoid getting into foul trouble here. Senior Nathan Cayo is an excellent complement to Golden on the inside as more of a banger. 

Blake Francis and Jacob Gilyard both get time at point guard, but it’s been Gilyard who leads the team with seven assists while Francis has taken on more of a scoring role. The Spiders big issue is their depth, as the seventh-highest scorer on the team averages just two points per game. They must stay out of foul trouble and keep West Virginia off the line. Richmond must also shoot lights out from three as they did against Kentucky. 

The Mountaineers’ sole loss came to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who are just a different breed early in the season. They’re still one of the best teams in the country, led by junior forward Derek Culver. He’s averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. He’s a bully in the paint and does a great job of slowing the otherwise fast West Virginia attack down. This is a team that either likes it down low with the big men or beyond the arc with the guards. 

He’s surrounded by three guards in double figures with Miles McBride, Taz Sherman, and Sean McNeil all averaging 10+ PPG. Oscar Tshiebwe (8.0 pts, 7.7 rev) is raw down low, but has as much upside as anyone in the country and will be better than Culver on occasion. This is a deep team and it doesn’t matter if one or two guys are off. They’re deep and experienced.  

The Mountaineers are the much better team here and we see that evidenced by the 7.5-point spread. The Spiders are going to get a lot of public action as they already beat Kentucky early on, but it’s a trap. The Mountaineers not only sport a better starting lineup, but they have immense depth. West Virginia is massive in the paint and Richmond has no chance of slowing both Culver and Tshiebwe down. I like West Virginia to win this game by double digits as Richmond fails to find a rhythm throughout.

Richmond is the faster team here and I like the Mountaineers to pull the pace down in this game. Culver and Tshiebwe will be on the floor at the same time and I expect WVU to play inside out offensively. West Virginia presses and the Spiders won’t have an easy time with it. The Spiders only big man weapon is Grant Golden, who’s already susceptible to foul trouble. Gilyard and Francis will be asked to do more here, and I’m not sure they will be able to against this pressing defense.