Georgia vs Florida State Odds, Pick
Georgia Odds | ||
---|---|---|
Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+9.5 -110 | 153.5 -110o / -110u | +340 |
Florida State Odds | ||
---|---|---|
Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-9.5 -110 | 153.5 -110o / -110u | -500 |
Two teams that could use a marquee win face off in the ACC-SEC Challenge as the Georgia Bulldogs head to Tallahassee to meet the Florida State Seminoles. Florida State has been the better team to start the season, but only slightly.
The Seminoles own a 4-1 record and have mostly taken care of business thus far. They don't have a bad loss, are undefeated at home and even earned an upset win over a talented Colorado team their last time out.
Georgia has not been so fortunate. The Bulldogs are off to a 3-3 start and are just 1-3 when facing opponents in KenPom's top 150. The lone win came against Wake Forest at home, while Georgia has lost all three games away from home against Oregon, Miami and Providence.
Nonetheless, there's reason to believe both of these teams could earn a victory here.
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Mike White is known for his ability to mold quality defensive teams, and he has done so for most of his career as a head coach. In just his second season at Georgia, he has flipped the Bulldogs from the 132nd-ranked defense last year to 48th thus far this season.
On the other end of the floor, the Bulldogs have struggled. They have two double-digit scorers per game in Noah Thomasson and Jabri Abdur-Rahim, but beyond that, everyone else has struggled mightily. Illinois transfer RJ Melendez is making just 33% of his shots from the floor and just 9% of his shots from beyond the arc.
It will be a tall task for the Georgia offense to find ways to score on this long and athletic Florida State defense.
While it has not always been easy this season for Florida State either, the Seminoles have found defensive success that the Bulldogs haven't replicated.
Florida State excels at forcing turnovers and defending the 3-point line as it ranks an identical 12th nationally in both Turnover Rate forced and 3-point Accuracy allowed (23%).
In the Seminoles' lone loss of the season against Florida, the Gators thrived from beyond the arc as they made 39% of their 18 attempts, and three different Gators scored 15 points or more. Florida State plays extremely fast (46th in the country in Tempo) and Georgia likes to run too (70th in Tempo), so both teams should be comfortable with the speed of this game.
Georgia vs. Florida State
Betting Pick & Prediction
Georgia is winless away from home, is winless against top-75 KenPom opponents, and has significant 3-point shooting struggles that seem likely to continue against a team that guards the perimeter as well as the Seminoles do.
Florida State has proven that it can beat quality opponents, and the Seminoles are simply playing better basketball right now than the Bulldogs.
Take Florida State to cover at -7.5 or better on Wednesday.
Pick: Florida State -7.5