Florida vs. Texas College Basketball prediction, preview
Florida has been machine-like for the majority of SEC play, particularly since a bad loss at home as a big favorite to Auburn. The Gators are 7-0 since the Tigers won in Gainesville as an 11.5-point underdog, winning by 21.5 points per game. They’ve been winning by dominating from the opening tip and taking sizable leads into halftime, leading by an average of 13.5 points at the break.
Playing on the road hasn’t mattered for Florida either, at 6-2 straight up and 7-1 ATS on the season. Prior to the loss to Auburn, Florida had won six straight in SEC play, leading at the half in five of those games (and trailing by one point at Vanderbilt). Overall in SEC play, the Gators have owned a halftime lead in 11 of their last 13 games and gone on to win all 11, including each of their last four road games.
The Longhorns are a solid team, and just had a five-game winning streak snapped on Saturday at Georgia. Texas will be in a bounce-back spot at home on Wednesday, but the task of keeping up with Florida will be difficult. The Gators have as strong of a front court as anyone in the country, and should be able to control the glass. While the Longhorns are a good rebounding team, Florida leads the nation in rebounding rate, and is very deep with bigs.
Both teams are strong offensively, but defense should be another aspect that separates the Gators in this game. Florida ranks fourth in the country in defensive rating on KenPom, while Texas is all the way down at 118th. The Gators will be able to score in this one, and provide themselves with second chance opportunities when they don’t.
We’re getting a good price on Florida to go wire-to-wire on the double result in this game, and do what they’ve been doing all season — win the first half and the game. That’s how I’ll be backing the Gators on Wednesday in Austin.
