Central Florida Knights (18-14) vs. Florida Gators (16-16)
March 15, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Florida Gators -4 / Central Florida Knights +4 ; Over/Under: 140
(Get latest betting odds)
The UCF Knights and the Florida Gators meet Wednesday in NIT college basketball action from O’Connell Center. UCF is 18-14 overall on the year. The Knights lost to Memphis in the AAC Tournament during their last game. As for Florida, they’re currently 16-16 overall after an SEC Tournament matchup loss to Mississippi State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UCF Knights
UCF logged a 17-13 record over their regular season. The campaign ended on a sketchy 2-4 run, however. The losses in that time were to Memphis, Cincinnati, South Florida and Temple. The Knights managed a win over SMU 76-70 in the AAC Tournament however.
In game two of the conference tourney, the Knights went into the break down 40-30. UCF got better in the second with a 46-41 run, but still lost the game 81-76. CJ Kelly led the way on 28 points, and Darius Johnson added 15 points in 36 minutes of work.
Florida Gators
Over on the Florida side, they barely managed to crack .500 in the regular season with a 16-15 record. The Gators went just 3-6 over their last nine games, losing to Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Kentucky and Vanderbilt again.
Last Thursday in the SEC Tournament, the Gators came back from a 36-26 halftime deficit to force overtime. Florida was outscored 12-11 from there however and lost 69-68. Riley Kugel was the team’s top scorer with 14 points and six rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably try UCF here. the Knights ran into a tough Memphis team in the AAC Tournament but they’d been playing pretty well prior to that. UCF has just three wins in their last eight games but they’ve been mostly competitive in that time. As for Florida, they lost a tough SEC Tournament game in their last outing. The Gators have scored 68 or more points in five straight matchups however and should post a decent total here. If UCF can get going early though I can see the Knights keeping a cover pace.
