_preview-bm.jpeg "Florida-vs.-Cincinnati-(ESPN2)_preview-bm")
The Cincinnati Bearcats may have lost the Battle of Cincinnati, but are off to a good start this season nonetheless. Cincinnati coasted to the Cayman Islands Classic title and now gets a chance to pick up some nice non-conference wins before starting play in the AAC. This Saturday they will play a Florida Gators team that has lost a lot of its luster from a week ago. Florida has now lost three straight games and might not be in the Top 25 the next time rankings are released.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 9, 2017, at 6 p.m. ET at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Florida looked really good at the Phil Knight Invitational and kept a top five ranking following a narrow three-point defeat at the hands of Duke. However, things flew off the rails once it returned to Gainesville and now the Gators are struggling to find their identity.
They looked to have one of the top offenses in the country through the first part of the season, notching 100 points or more in four of their six games with the over cashing each time. Yet against Florida State and Loyola-Chicago this week, the Gators combined to score just 125 total points. Florida lost both of these games outright despite being a big home favorite and both games sailed under the total.
Cincinnati has relied on its defense all season long, but got throttled by Xavier last weekend. The Bearcats had only allowed two opponents to score more than 55 points through their first seven games and all but one of those games went under the total. They gave up 89 points to the Musketeers though as Xavier got Cincinnati into foul trouble with its guard play and punished them at the line.
Key Stat
Mike White called his team soft after its lost to Florida State, but the defensive effort wasn’t there against Loyola-Chicago either. The Gators are giving up 79 PPG this season and have allowed opponents to shoot well from the season all year long.
Florida has a lot of athleticism and shouldn’t be this bad on the defensive end of the ball. There are some quality guards on this roster and they are a solid rebounding team too.
It looks to be a motivational issue more than anything at this point and the big question is whether or not White can inspire them to D up. They can shoot the lights out, but need to be able to lock opponents down too when their jump shooting game isn’t working.
Matchup to Watch
Cincinnati is playing the style of basketball that Bob Huggins popularized in the Queen City. The Bearcats have been superb on defense with the lone exception of the Xavier game. Cincy is holding opponents to 36.2 percent from the floor this season and is 15th in the nation in scoring defense.
One of the keys to the Bearcats success is their ability to box out and not let opponents grab offensive rebounds. Cincinnati has a massive rebounding advantage of +15 per game through the early part of the season and will look to outmuscle Florida.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
This should be a great early season matchup between two teams with contrasting styles of play. Florida is one of those teams that can beat anyone in the country when things are going well. This team has a plethora of shooters and will get stronger on the defensive end when John Egbunu returns from injury.
Florida needs to stop the bleeding and avoid a four-game losing streak, so I expect the Gators to come out playing like their hair is on fire in order to get the win here.
College Basketball Odds: Florida 75, Cincinnati 70
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