The first round of the Big 12 Championship, presented by Phillips 66, will showcase the West Virginia Mountaineers (9-22) against the Cincinnati Bearcats (18-13) in an appealing college basketball matchup. The action takes place at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri at 3:00 PM ET on Tuesday, March 12. The Bearcats are currently favored with a point spread at -10.5 (-115).

The Mountaineers capped off their regular season with a 92-56 loss to the Bearcats. The Bearcats actually scored 56 points in the second half, which is exactly the same total the Mountaineers put up the entire game. This added to their five-game losing streak and it does not appear that they are in a good spot here.

This marked their third consecutive game of losing by 10 points or more. As for the spread in this matchup, it seems appealing that the Bearcats could cover once again.

The Mountaineers are averaging 69.3 points per game while shooting 42.6 percent from the field. This is a solid point total, but they were way off in their last game against the Bearcats.

They are allowing 76.4 points to opposing teams per game. They must come out with incredible defensive energy. At this rate, they could be in trouble of keeping this game respectable.

The Bearcats need a good impression heading into this tournament and they have a great opportunity against a team they just defeated a few days ago by nearly 40 points. However, they are currently 2-3 over their last five games and need a compelling performance here.

Out of their two losses in five games, they have both been at home. At a neutral site, it might not make as big of an impact.

The Bearcats are averaging 74.8 points each matchup and are connecting on 44.5 percent of their field goals. Their ball movement is also just a bit higher than the Mountaineers’ at 14.8 assists each game, which suggests that they should find more scoring opportunities.

Defensively, they are giving up 67.8 points per game to opposing teams. While this is not a large spread, they have shown they are more than capable of having an excellent performance against the Mountaineers. 

The odds from MyBookie show that the Cincinnati Bearcats are 10.5-point favorites to find success. Market analysis shows they have an 88.9 percent probability of landing the win.

With the struggles from the Mountaineers this season, it is difficult to see them winning, especially since they were just clobbered by the Bearcats in their last matchup. The Bearcats have all of the momentum in the world to win and cover the spread.