Central Florida vs South Florida 2/3/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The USF Bulls and the UCF Knights meet in college basketball action from the Addition Financial Arena on Thursday night.

The USF Bulls come into this one looking to snap a three-game losing skid after a 76-45 loss to Tulsa last time out. Caleb Murphy leads the Bulls in scoring and assists with 12.1 PPG and 3.3 APG while Javon Greene has 10 PPG with 4.7 RPG and 1.9 SPG as the only other double-digit scorer for USF this season. Russel Tchewa has 5.5 PPG with a team-high 5.4 RPG to lead the Bulls on the glass this season. As a team, USF is averaging 57.7 PPG on 37.8% shooting from the field, 24.6% from three and 65.9% from the foul line while allowing 64.2 PPG on 40.8% shooting from the field and 31.1% from three this season.

The UCF Knights will be hoping to bounce back from back-to-back losses after a 63-49 loss to Houston last time out. Darin Green Jr. leads the Knights in scoring with 13.3 PPG while Darius Perry has 11.1 PPG with 3.7 RPG and a team-high 4.8 APG to lead the Knights in assists. Brandon Mahan also has 10.3 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UCF. C.J. Walker has 8.6 PPG with a team-high 6 RPG to lead UCF on the boards and Cheikh Mbacke Diong also has 5.6 RPG this season. As a team, UCF is averaging 71.4 PPG on 43.8% shooting from the field, 34.8% from three and 74.5% from the foul line while allowing 67.5 PPG on 41.9% shooting from the field and 30.2% from three this season.

USF is 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 Thursday games and 1-7-1 ATS in their last 9 games following a loss by 20 or more points while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a winning record. UCF is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a double-digit loss at home and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games after scoring less than 50 points in their previous game while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games following a loss.

I get why the points with USF could be worth a look here as UCF hasn’t been blowing many teams away if we’re being honest, but the reality here is that the Bulls just don’t score enough to give themselves much of a chance, especially on the road. UCF is the better team here and they have to start picking it up to get some style points and build some confidence with the conference tournament fast approaching. Give me UCF laying the points here.