Colorado Buffaloes (25-10) vs. Florida Gators (24-11)
March 22, 2024 4:30 pm EDT
The Line: Florida Gators -1.5; Over/Under: +159
(Get latest betting odds)
The Colorado Buffaloes and Florida Gators meet Friday in the college basketball NCAA Tournament First Round at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Colorado vs Florida prediction.
Colorado Buffaloes Betting Preview
The Colorado Buffaloes recently beat Washington State and Boise State, while losing to Oregon. The Colorado Buffaloes are averaging 80.6 points on 49.9 percent shooting and allowing 72.1 points on 44 percent shooting. KJ Simpson is averaging 19.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, while Tristan da Silva is averaging 15.9 points and 2.3 assists. Cody Williams is the third double-digit scorer and J’Vonne Hadley is grabbing 6 rebounds. The Colorado Buffaloes are shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc and 77.7 percent from the free throw line. The Colorado Buffaloes are allowing 32.9 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 34.1 rebounds per game.
Florida Gators Betting Preview
The Florida Gators recently beat Alabama and Texas A&M while losing to Auburn. The Florida Gators are averaging 84.9 points on 45.7 percent shooting and allowing 77.6 points on 43.3 percent shooting. Walter Clayton Jr. is averaging 17.1 points and 3.6 rebounds, while Zyon Pullin is averaging 15.6 points and 4 rebounds. Tyrese Samuel is the third double-digit scorer and Will Richard is grabbing 4 rebounds. The Florida Gators are shooting 33.9 percent from beyond the arc and 71 percent from the free throw line. The Florida Gators are allowing 32.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 40.1 rebounds per game.
Colorado vs Florida prediction
The Florida Gators are one of the best offensive teams in this tournament, which includes being ranked seventh in points per game. However, Florida gives up a lot of points as well, and it’s led to some bizarre losses. The Colorado Buffaloes have won 9 of their last 10 games, and they’ve covered 7 of those games. Colorado is coming off a nice tournament win over Boise State and has the offensive horses to go toe to toe with Florida. Colorado is fifth in both field goal percentage and three point percentage. Also, there’s only been one tournament (2019) where at least one First Four team didn’t win at least one game in the main tournament. This is a toss up game between two elite offensive clubs. I’ll take the free bucket with Colorado.
