College Basketball takes center stage on Thursday night when the Marquette Golden Eagles travel south to take on the seventh-ranked Florida Gators. The game is scheduled for a 9:00 pm start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Currently the odds for the game have Florida favored by 11 points.
Quality game tonight between two good basketball teams. The Florida Gators have reached into the Top 10 already this season and are one of those teams when they spend a lot of time playing solid defense. They haven't played the hardest schedule in the country, but are holding opponents to just over 48 points per game this season. The only problem we have with Florida is they haven't been tested outside of their own territory.
The Gators are 5-0 and haven't had to leave Gainesville yet. Tonight will be their sixth and final home game in a row before actually hitting the road next week, taking on Florida State. They might be the seventh-best team in the country, but can we really tell that after the teams they have played in all home games? Maybe not just yet.
Marquette will be their toughest opponent to date. The Golden Eagles move the ball well and score a lot of points. One way to succeed in college basketball is to make the extra pass and get the assist. Marquette ranks 15th nationally at just under 18 assists per game, meaning they are sharing the wealth. Buzz Williams' team also scores a lot of points at just under 77 per game. How do they score so well? They shoot it well. Marquette has connected on 49 percent of their shots this season, which ranks them in the Top 25 nationally in shooting percentage.
Yet, Marquette clearly got looking ahead to this based on their last game. You'll notice they beat Maryland-Baltimore County 79-46 on Monday, but they actually trailed in the game with 17 minutes to go.
The Golden Eagles like to spread it out and run the floor, so we could see an up and down style of game with Florida here tonight. This game is one of the SEC/Big East Challenge matchups and also a rematch of a regional semifinal in last season's NCAA tournament. Florida won that game.
The Gators' Scottie Wilbekin can get it done on both ends of the floor. The junior point guard teams up with senior Kenny Boynton to make up one of the best backcourts in the country. We give Florida a bit of an edge in the guard portion of tonight's game.
Up front for Marquette, who doesn't love Davante Gardner? He's a beast and yet leads the team in scoring coming off the bench. Look for Jamil Wilson to team up with Gardner and have a big game on the blocks.
We are looking forward to this game tonight because we think a lot of points are going to get scored. The up and down style of pace could be fun to watch and we think Marquette can hang around tonight. We're looking for a big game from Gardner.
Free Pick: Florida 73, Marquette 67
-$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Jumbo Bulk Dollars are BACK! Bulk Dollars: $500 Gets You $1000-- Click Here
Get more Free Picks from the Pregame Pros HERE.