Texas A&M vs. UCF prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball
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It is night one of the college basketball season as Texas A&M visits UCF. It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Texas A&M-UCF prediction and pick.
Last year, Texas A&M went 21-15, going 9-9 in SEC play in their fifth season under head coach Buzz Williams. they would make a small run in the SEC tournament, defeating Ole Miss and then upsetting Kentucky to make it to the semi-finals. There they would fall by five to Florida. Still, it was enough to get them an NCAA tournament bid. In the first round Texas A&M would defeat Nebraska, but, they would fall in overtime to two-seed Houston in the second round.
Meanwhile, UCF finished 17-16 last year, going 7-11 in Big 12 play. UCF would win a first-round game i the Big 12 tournament over Oklahoma state, but then Fall to BYU in the second round. This would result in an invitation to the NIT, where they would fall to South Florida in the first round.
Here are the Texas A&M-UCF College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Texas A&M-UCF Odds
Texas A&M: -4.5 (-102)
Moneyline: -178
UCF: +4.5 (-120)
Moneyline: +146
Over: 143.5 (-110)
Under: 143.5 (-110)
How to Watch Texas A&M vs. UCF
Time: 7:00 PM ET/ 4:00 PM PT
TV: ESPN+
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why Texas A&M Will Cover The Spread/Win
Texas A&M enters the season sitting 13th in the national rankings this year. Further, they bring back a lot of production. First, leading scorer Wade Taylor IV returns. Last year he scored 19.1 points per game, while also leading the team with four assists per gamer. Further, Taylor shot well overall from three, hitting 32.5 percent of his three-point attempts. Many of his assists went to Tyrece Radford, who has graduated and will need to be replaced.
Replacing Randford will be the job of Zhuric Phelps. He led SMU in scoring last year, scoring 14.8 points per game last year, while also adding 2.7 assists and 41. rebounds. Texas A&M also brings in CJ Wilcher from Nebraska. Last year he averaged 7.7 points per game coming off the bench. Still, Texas A&M gets plenty of returning production in the frontcourt. Andersson Garcia return after leading the team in rebounds last year, averaging 9.1 rebounds per game while also scoring six points per game. Meanwhile, Henry Coleman III and Solomon Washington. Coleman was third on the team with 8.8 points per game last year while also having 5.6 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Washington scored 7.4 points per game while having 5.7 rebounds per game last year.
Why UCF Will Cover The Spread/Win
While Texas A&M returns major parts of its roster, UCF brings in 11 new players, including nine transfers. UCF returns top scorer Jaylin Sellers, who scored 15.9 points per game while adding 3.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Still, he will be out in this game with an injury. UCF still has Darius Johnson returning this year. He scored 15.2 points per game while adding 3.3 rebounds per game and 3.7 assists per game. Further, he led the team with 2.2 steals per game last year.
While Johnson will be returning, a bunch of transfers need to make an impact. One of those players may be Mikey Williams, the guard coming in from Memphis. The four-star recruit out of San Diego committed to Memphis to play last year. Still, after criminal charges were filed against Williams, he did not play for Memphis and instead entered the transfer portal. Also looking to make an early impact is Dior Johnson. Johnson spent last season at Clarendon College after having legal issues of his own.
After Ibrahima Diallo graduated, UCF will also need to find replacements in the front court. Diallo had 5.6 rebounds per game last year and 1.8 blocks per game, both marks led the team. They bring in fellow Senegalese big man Moustapha Thiam to potentially do just that. The 7’2″ center from Dakar, Senegal is expected to make an impact as a Freshman for UCF.
Final Texas A&M-UCF Prediction & Pick
UCF is breaking in an almost entirely new roster in this game. With Jaylin Sellers out, the main production piece returning is Darius Johnson, who will need to carry the scoring load for this team to start with. Meanwhile, Texas A&M brings back a large amount of their production in this one. They bring back seven players who saw a large amount of playing time while adding SMU’s leading scorer from last year in Zhuric Phelps. Texas A&M was the better squad last year, and with so much production returning, they should play like the better squad in this game. While UCF should take steps forward this year, it will take time for the squad to gel and make that jump.
Final Texas A&M-UCF Prediction & Pick: Texas A&M -4.5 (-104)
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