
Florida State vs Georgia Tech Prediction 1/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Georgia Tech (8-10) vs. Florida State (12-5)
January 18, 2025 12:00 pm EDT
The Line: Florida State -8.5; Over/Under: 147.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Florida State Seminoles meet Saturday in college basketball action from Donald L Tucker Center. Here’s a Florida State vs Georgia Tech prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Florida State vs Georgia Tech pick.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Betting Preview
The Yellow Jackets have had a couple of runs this year featuring solid play, but overall it’s been a very choppy year for them. Georgia Tech opened the season on a 4-3 stretch with wins over West Georgia, Texas Southern, Charleston Southern and Central Arkansas. The losses otherwise were versus North Florida, Georgia and Cincinnati. The Jackets would then hit a 1-4 stretch with a lone win over UMBC amid losses to Oklahoma, North Carolina, Northwestern and Duke. Following a three-game win streak over Alabama A&M, Notre Dame and Boston College, the Yellow Jackets lost three straight versus Syracuse, SMU and Clemson for a pretty rough 8-10 overall record this season so far.
In the Clemson game back on Tuesday, the Yellow Jackets entered the second half holding a 36-25 deficit. Georgia Tech kept the pace from there on a 34-34 run, but eventually took a double-digit loss 70-59 in the end. Leading the team in scoring with a double-double was Baye Ndongo with 14 points, 12 boards and three steals. Naithan George added 13 points with four assists and three rebounds, while Jaeden Mustaf came off the bench for 12 points in the loss.
Florida State Seminoles Betting Preview
Over on the Florida State side, they entered the year with a nice run and have remained pretty steady overall. The Seminoles have just one instance of consecutive losses so far. FSU opened on a 7-1 run with a loss to Florida amid wins over Northern Kentucky, Rice, Tarleton State, Hofstra, Temple, UMass and Western Carolina. After losses to LSU and NC State in the next pair, the Seminoles have hit a 5-2 run in their last seven outings. The only losses in that time came versus Louisville and Clemson. Otherwise it was wins over Tulane, Winthrop, Syracuse, Miami and Pittsburgh, resulting in a 12-5 overall record through the first 17 games of the year.
Matched up against Pitt in the Wednesday game, the Seminoles came out of the locker room facing a 28-23 advantage on the scoreboard. Florida State got better from there on a 54-47 run and took the convincing win 82-70 in the end. Tops in scoring was Jamir Watkins with 26 points and eight rebounds with one assist and one steal. Malique Ewin added 18 points with 13 boards and three blocks, while Chandler Jackson had 13 points, four assists and two rebounds in 27 minutes. Justin Thomas led the bench players with five points and two steals in the win.
Why the Florida State Seminoles will win
- Georgia Tech has lost each of its last six games at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
- Florida State has won each of its last six games against Georgia Tech at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
- Georgia Tech has lost the first half in each of its last six games at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Why the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will win
- Florida State has lost each of its last four day games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
- Georgia Tech has won four of its last five games following a home loss.
- Florida State has lost the first half in seven of its last eight day games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Florida State vs Georgia Tech Prediction
I’m going to stay with Florida State. The Seminoles do have a few things to clean up following their win over Pittsburgh, though. FSU shot very well from the lien (84.8 percent on 28-of-23) in that one, but otherwise coughed up 15 turnovers for 20 Panthers points. The shooting from the floor (42.9 percent) wasn’t horrendous, but could have been better. In any case, Florida State has scored 80 or more points in each of their last three wins, and bounced back well after a limp 57-point showing in a blowout loss at Clemson last weekend.
As for Georgia Tech, they shot just 35.2 percent from the field in their loss to the aforementioned Tigers, giving away 14 turnovers for 15 Clemson points along the way. The Yellow Jackets have been below 60 points in two of the last three games (all three were losses), so it shouldn’t be too difficult for FSU to keep a lid on the scoring here. The Seminoles should control this one from wire to wire if all goes well.