Florida vs Georgia: Odds, Prediction, and Best Bet for Wednesday, February 11

The Florida Gators will head north to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in an SEC showdown on Wednesday, February 11. Both teams have bona fide superstars, as Thomas Haugh and Jeremiah Wilkinson are two of the best scorers in the conference. Will we see plenty of thunderous dunks and wild shots from downtown in this one on ESPN2 at 7 PM Eastern?

Let’s dive into which team has the edge in each statistical category. Get our predictions and best player prop below. Best of luck, sports betting family.

Opening Odds for Florida vs Georgia

Oddsmakers are making Florida a huge favorite in this game, as the opening line priced the Gators as a 7-point favorite on the lookahead line on Tuesday afternoon. A truckload of money has come in on the road favorite so far to cause most sportsbooks to move to Florida -9.5.

The books are expecting a higher amount of scoring in this game. The opening total was 163, but tons of Over money has changed all of that. We’re now sitting at 166.5 at some online sportsbooks. The move to the Over is a bit shocking because both of these teams rank inside the Top 30 in opponent shooting efficiency.

Will the Gators Stay Hot in Conference Play?

Florida had kind of a lackluster start to the season, but they’ve looked like a team on a mission since SEC play began. The Gators are 8-2 in the conference and have won 4 of their last 5. They just blew out a tough Texas A&M team by 19 points over the weekend.

The Gators have a ton of depth on offense, as they have 5 players who average in double figures in scoring. Alex Condon and the aforementioned Thomas Haugh form a 1-2 punch that’s difficult for even the fiercest of defenses. Those two beasts combine to average more than 31 points per contest.

Florida’s defense does a terrific job of limiting points in the paint, as they rank 7th in defending two-point shots. However, the Gators do rank outside the Top 100 in three-point defense, so that’s something to keep in mind tonight. The key question is whether or note Georgia has the shooters to exploit this weakness.

Can the Bulldogs Shake Out of Their Funk?

Georgia has the same overall record as Florida (17-6), but the Bulldogs have been scuffling quite a bit lately. UGA has lost 3 of its last 5 games, but they did look much better in a win over LSU last weekend. The Bulldogs are just 5-5 in SEC play, so they’re going to have to play better down the stretch.

Like Florida, Georgia has plenty of scoring depth. Four Bulldogs average 11.2 points per game or more this season. Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.1 ppg) leads the way, but he gets lots of help from fellow guards Blue Cain (13.2) and Marcus Millender (11.7).

Georgia’s defensive metrics are kind of a mystery. They like to play an uptempo style, and that kind of skews some of their numbers like points per game allowed and field goals allowed. Even still, UGA ranks 28th in opponent shooting efficiency, which isn’t too shabby.

Best Bet: Georgia +9.5 (-110) (DraftKings)

This line has taken off since it was recently announced that Georgia would be without leading scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson in this one. He’s dealing with a shoulder injury and won’t play. As bad as it always is to play without a key player, I still don’t think that this line should be this high.

Even without Wilkinson, I still made Georgia only a 6-point underdog here at home. The Bulldogs are playing with revenge, as the Gators thumped them quite handily earlier in the season. We’ll see a max effort from UGA here tonight in a rivalry game. Take the points!