Temple vs UCF 12/15/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UCF Knights and the Temple Owls meet in AAC college hoops action from the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night.

The UCF Knights come into this one off of back-to-back wins after an 83-68 win over North Carolina A&T last time out. Darin Green Jr. leads the Knights in scoring with 15.8 PPG while Darius Perry has 12.8 PPG with 3.8 RPG and a team-high 5.2 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for UCF while leading the squad in assists. C.J. Walker has 9.6 PPG with 5.4 RPG and Cheikh Mbacke Diong also has a team-high 5.9 RPG this season. As a team, UCF is averaging 74.5 PPG on 46.6% shooting from the field, 35.9% from three and 78.4% from the foul line while allowing 65.5 PPG on 42.4% shooting from the field and 28.6% from three this season.

The Temple Owls come into this one looking to shake off a 68-49 loss to Saint Joseph’s last time out. Damian Dunn is the only active double-digit scorer for Temple with 13.5 PPG and 5.2 RPG as top scorer Khalif Battle is out for the season with a knee injury. Tai Strickland has 9.4 PPG and Jeremiah Williams has 9.2 PPG with a team-high 4.5 APG to lead the Owls in assists. Nick Jourdain also has a team-high 5.5 RPG to lead Temple on the glass this season. As a team, Temple is averaging 67.8 PPG on 41.2% shooting from the field, 28.5% from three and 68% from the foul line while allowing 67.9 PPG on 40.8% shooting from the field and 33.6% from three this season.

UCF is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games following an ATS loss. Temple is 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 home games against a team with a winning road record and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following an ATS loss while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games.

I get the case that could be made both ways here, but I’m looking at the over. Both teams have played low-scoring matchups in the last couple of years against each other, but the Knights on the road this season have been scoring points and giving them up in bunches as well while Temple has had their fair share of scoring to be done as well. I think this one is all about the offense, so give me the over in this one.