East Carolina vs Central Florida 1/4/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UCF Knights and the East Carolina Pirates meet in college basketball action from the Minges Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The UCF Knights will try to bounce back from a 71-65 loss to Houston in their last game. Taylor Hendricks leads the Knights in scoring and rebounding with 14.8 PPG and 6.7 RPG while Darius Johnson has 12.3 PPG and 4.4 APG. C.J. Kelly has 10.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG while Ithiel Horton has 10.8 PPG and 3.7 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UCF this season. As a team, UCF is averaging 69.5 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 35.5% from three and 73.6% from the foul line this season.

The East Carolina Pirates will hope to build off of a 79-69 win over Wichita State last time out. Javon Small leads the Pirates in scoring and assists with 16.4 PPG and 5.5 APG while Brandon Johnson has 12.9 PPG along with a team-high 9.6 RPG to lead the Pirates on the glass up to this point in the year. RJ Felton also has 11.6 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for East Carolina up to this point in the year. As a team, East Carolina is averaging 71.9 points per game on 43% shooting from the field, 32.5% from three point range and 67.6% from the foul line this season.

UCF is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS win and 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 Wednesday games while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 road games. East Carolina is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 home games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 7-3 in their last 10 home games.

I get why UCF’s favored here as the Knights have been strong for the most part as of late and a loss to Houston is not a bad loss if there is such a thing. That being said, I just think this is a case of too many points. Sure, UCF’s had a lot of recent success against ECU, but UCF had a lot of small lines in this games and barely scraped by in a lot of them. This East Carolina team battles and just beat up a Wichita State team that plays solid defense and just held UCF to 52 points in a loss. I think this one’s coming down to who has the rock last. Give me the Pirates and the points here.