West Virginia at Cincinnati Picks & Best Bets

They’re not going to catch the elite teams at the top of the Big 12 standings, but with conference tournaments right around the corner West Virginia and Cincinnati have a chance to improve their resumes and standing. All 11 of Cincinnati’s wins have come at home, unfortunately they’ve also dropped 11 games following Saturday’s setback to Houston.

West Virginia at Cincinnati Preview

The second meeting of the Big 12 season between the West Virginia Mountaineers and Cincinnati Bearcats takes place on Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7 p.m. ET inside Fifth Third Arena on the UC campus. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Public Betting Odds Factors

• Bob Huggins hasn’t coached WVU for several years but his legacy of tenacious defense is still a major part of the program. The Mountaineers need to be stingy with the lack of scoring depth. They are 2nd in the Big 12 and 7th nationally allowing just 63.8 points per game helping them cash the UNDER on the college basketball spread in 6 straight games.

• WVU has failed to reach the 60-point mark in 3 straight games falling to Baylor 63-53 on Saturday. They did beat K-State in that stretch but failed to cover the closing spread in all 3 outings.

• The Mountaineers won for the first time this season outside Morgantown beating Arizona State on Jan. 21. They are 1-8 SU in road/neural site games and 3-5 ATS.

• Honor Huff is the go-to guy offensively for WVU averaging 15.8 points with 3.5 made 3-pointers per game. Huff had an off night against Baylor going just 1 of 9 from distance, but Brenen Lorient picked up the scoring slack with 19 points.

• Cincinnati hasn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and they won’t do it this season unless they go on a late season run or win the Big 12 Tournament. They lost for the 3rd time in 4 games, 76-54, to Houston on Saturday with the setbacks by an average of more than 20 points.

• Two of those losses were to Houston and Arizona, among the best in the nation. However, more disturbing was a 14-point setback at Arizona State where Cincy was favored by 3.5-points. The Bearcats are just 1-3 ATS in their last 4 outings.

• The Bearcats can play defense as well allowing 67.4 points per game with the 10th best defensive rating in the country according to kenpom.com. They played UNDER the total in 2 straight and 7 of their last 9 games.

West Virginia at Cincinnati Predictions

• If this game is anything like the first meeting, you can expect it to be close without a lot of offense. Both teams thrive on their defensive intensity because they don’t have the weapons to win a shootout. They’ve also struggled against the better teams in the Big 12, though Cincy has a win over Iowa State and WVU knocked off Kansas earlier. WVU won by 2 at home in early January and I expect Cincy to return the favor.

West Virginia at Cincinnati Betting Tips

• WVU has failed to cover the college basketball betting line in its last 3 games and is just 1-3 ATS in 4 Big 12 road games.
• Cincy has payouts in 5 of its last 6 home games.
• The Bearcats have cashed the UNDER in 10 of their last 13 games and the UNDER is 16-6 this season.
• WVU has played UNDER the total in 6 straight games and in 9 of its last 10.

West Virginia at Cincinnati Head to Head and Key Stats

• WVU won the last 3 meetings and didn’t score more than 63 points in any of them, cashing the UNDER every time.
• The Mountaineers are 8-2 SU in the last 10 meetings and have 5 payouts with a push in the last 8 encounters.
• 6 of the last 9 meetings finished UNDER the closing total.