Utah Utes vs West Virginia Mountaineers Prediction, 2/18/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Utah Utes vs West Virginia Mountaineers

Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Location: WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, WV

TV: FS1

The West Virginia Mountaineers (16-9) are hosting the Utah Utes (9-16) at WVU Coliseum on Wednesday.

The Utah Utes took the court against Cincinnati and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 69-65 in their last contest. Utah ended the contest with a 36.1% field goal percentage (22 out of 61) and knocked down 9 out of their 27 shots from downtown. From the free throw line, the Utes buried 12 of their 15 attempts for a rate of 80.0%. Regarding grabbing boards, they earned 37 with 13 of them being offensive. They also recorded 12 dimes in the matchup while forcing the opposition into 6 turnovers and getting 6 steals. In the matter of defense, Utah allowed the other team to shoot 44.4% from the field on 24 out of 54 shooting. Cincinnati doled out 14 dimes and had 7 steals for the matchup. Furthermore, Cincinnati totaled 26 boards (6 offensive, 20 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Cincinnati walked away from this one shooting 77.3% at the charity stripe by making 17 of 22 attempts. They also converted 4 out of their 15 attempts from distance. When talking about personal fouls, the Utes finished with 13 while Cincinnati totaled 13 personal fouls.

Don McHenry is one guy who was a factor for this game. He finished the contest at 37.5% from the field and totaled 3 assists. He was on the court for 26 mins played and also pulled down 5 boards. He notched 18 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

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Utah comes into this contest with a mark of 9-16 this season. They cough up possession 11.3 times per game and as a group are committing 16.8 personal fouls every game. As a team, Utah is snagging 34.6 rebounds per contest and has accumulated 344 dimes for the year, which ranks 242nd in Division 1 in terms of passing. The Utes are shooting 35.3% on shots from 3-point land (202 of 573) and 72.7% from the charity stripe. They have an average of 76.4 pts per game (172nd in college) on 45.3% from the floor.

Defensively, the Utes have forced 9.7 turnovers every game while drawing 16.2 fouls. They are relinquishing 34.0% from 3-point land and they are 323rd in college hoops in points per game from their opponents (79.5). The Utes defense is allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 47.1% (735 of 1,559) and they concede 36.4 boards per game as a group. They rank 183rd in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 348 relinquished this year.

In their last game, the West Virginia Mountaineers got the win with a final of 74-67 against UCF. The Mountaineers corralled 23 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds totaling 34 in the game. They turned it over 11 times, while earning 9 steals in this matchup. UCF committed 17 personal fouls in this contest which took the Mountaineers to the free throw line for a total of 19 shots. They were able to make 16 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 84.2%. Pertaining to shooting from 3-point land, West Virginia converted 6 of 23 attempts (26.1%). When the final whistle blew, the Mountaineers went 26 out of 60 from the floor which had them shooting 43.3%. The Mountaineers permitted UCF to knock down 24 of their 57 attempts from the floor which left them shooting 42.1% for this game. They finished the game shooting 33.3% from 3-point land by shooting 6 of 18 and walked away from this one shooting 13 of 16 from the free throw line (81.3%). Concerning cleaning up the glass, West Virginia permitted UCF to collect 27 in all (7 offensive).

Honor Huff was important for the Mountaineers in the matchup. He racked up 21 points in his 26 minutes on the hardwood, but wasn't able to get an assist. He converted 5 out of 12 for the matchup for a rate of 41.7%, and added 1 rebound.

West Virginia has a mark of 16-9 this year. As an offense, the Mountaineers are shooting 44.4% from the field, which is ranked 238th in college hoops. West Virginia has scored 1,753 points on the season (70.1 per game) and they pull in 35.2 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 12.7 times per game (278th in the nation) and they turn it over 11.1 times per game. The Mountaineers have committed 15.0 personal fouls per contest and they shoot 67.9% from the free throw line.

The Mountaineers on the defensive side of the court are 6th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 63.8. They are forcing 11.6 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.4% from the field (54th in college). The West Virginia defense gives up 35.3% from downtown (190 of 539) and opponents are knocking down 73.6% of their shots from the free throw line. They have relinquished 13.0 assists and 32.2 boards per game, which is 147th and 57th in college hoops.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Utah

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