It’s been a year to forget for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Losses to Georgia Southern, Liberty, and Drake at the start of the season heralded that this would be a rebuilding year for Danny Manning’s squad. However, it hasn’t been completely bereft of good things. Wake Forest was able to knock off both Syracuse and Florida State and will look to play spoiler again. The Miami Hurricanes will try to prevent Wake Forest from getting its 10th win of the season.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, February 7, 2018, at 7 p.m. ET at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida. 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 Wednesday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Miami is back in the Top 25 after two straight wins moved the Canes to 17-5. The Hurricanes were able to knock off both Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, but only covered the latter.
Vegas didn’t set a line for a Miami home game until the start of conference play. As a result, the Hurricanes are just 1-3 ATS. They started things off on the right foot, covering against Florida State at home, but then failed to cover against Duke, Louisville, or Pitt.
Unsurprisingly, the Demon Deacons have not been a great team to bet on this season. Wake Forest has bottomed out in recent weeks, failing to cover the number in eight of its last ten. The only two exceptions were the two wins, as this team’s closest loss over that span was by six points at the hands of Boston College.
Under has been a great bet in Wake Forest games this year. It has cashed in 14 of the Demon Deacons’ 21 games.
Matchup to Watch
Although Wake Forest has played a lot of unders, it’s not because the defense has been great. On the contrary, the Demon Deacons have not been good on the defensive end at all this year.
Wake Forest has been one of the worst teams in the country at defending the perimeter. The Demon Deacons are allowing opponents to hit 38.7 percent of their three-pointers this year. That puts them in the bottom 30 in three-point defense in the country.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have an outstanding defense. Miami has been able to lean on that defense after the injury to Bruce Brown Jr. to keep churning out wins. Ken Pomeroy has them ranked as the 11th best defense in the country, which is no surprise considering who their coach is.
Player to Watch
John Collins emerged as one of the best low post players in the country last season and ended up leaving early to become a first-round pick. This year, Doral Moore has tried to fill that role, and he has done a pretty good job.
Moore is hitting over 70 percent of his field goals and is nearly averaging a double-double a game. That’s despite getting little support from his supporting cast, who are having a tough time hitting anything. Six of Wake Forest’s top eight rotation players are shooting less than 42 percent from the field, putting all the pressure on Moore.
Teams have been able to contain him by both getting him in foul trouble and sending him to the line. Moore has had some trouble staying on the court as a result of both of those things.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Wake Forest is likely to be a double-digit underdog in this one considering how it has played. Miami usually doesn’t cover spreads like that, but it matches up well against the Demon Deacons. The Hurricanes will force bad shots out of their opponent all night and will get enough out of their offense to cover.
College Basketball Odds: Miami 72, Wake Forest 59
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