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Florida vs Texas Prediction 1/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today

Texas (12-5) vs. Florida (15-2)
January 18, 2025 4:00 pm EDT
The Line: Florida -10.5 ; Over/Under: 150.5
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The Texas Longhorns and the Florida Gators meet Saturday in college basketball action from O’Connell Center. Here’s a Florida vs Texas prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Florida vs Texas pick.

Texas Longhorns Betting Preview

The Longhorns have been pretty darn consistent for most of the 2024-25 season, though it’s worth noting that they’ve run into some trouble during some very difficult matchups lately. Texas opened with a loss to Ohio State, then took out Houston Christian, Chicago State, MS Valley State, Syracuse, Saint Joseph’s, Delaware State and NC State in the next seven games. Another loss to UConn came in early December, followed by wins over new Mexico State, AR-Pine Bluff, New Orleans and Northwestern State. Following losses to Texas A&M, Auburn and Tennessee in the next trio of outings, the Longhorns finally stopped the bleeding with a win over Oklahoma, giving them a 12-5 overall record through 17 games so far this year.



In the Oklahoma matchup, the Longhorns jumped out to a comfortable lead 43-27 by halftime. Texas had to scramble a bit in the second half on a 46-34 deficit, but still came out on top 77-73 by game’s end. Jordan Pope led the team in scoring with his 27 points, two rebounds and four steals. Tre Johnson added 16 points with four rebounds and three steals, while Tramon Mark put up 15 points with three boards, one assist and one steal. Ze’Rik Onyema scored the lone bench point with one rebound in there minutes on the court.

Florida Gators Betting Preview

Over on the Florida side, they’ve been an incredibly consistent team themselves so far this year. The Gators have only recently run into a bit of trouble in the win column. Florida kicked off the season on a stellar 13-game win streak. Those victories came courtesy of South Florida, Jacksonville, Grambling, Florida State, Florida A&M, Southern Illinois, Wake Forest, Wichita State, Virginia, Arizona State, North Carolina, North Florida and Stetson in succession. Since then however, it’s been a 2-2 run over the last quartet of outings. Florida has wins over Tennessee and Arkansas in that time, sandwiched between losses to Kentucky and Missouri for a 15-2 overall run through the first 17 games of the 2024-25 season.

Matched up against Missouri in the Tuesday game, Florida was hit over the head in the first half with a 50-34 deficit. The Gators fought back and made a game of it on a 48-33 second, but eventually lost a tough one 83-82 in the end. Walter Clayton topped the team in the losing effort with 28 points, five boards and three steals. Will Richard added 12 points with three rebounds and one steal, while Rueben Chinyelu doubled up on 11 points, 10 boards, two blocks and one assist. Tops off the bench was Thomas Haugh with seven points and five boards.

Why the Florida Gators will win

  • Texas has lost each of its last nine games against AP-ranked opponents.
  • Florida has won 19 of its last 20 games at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
  • Florida has won the first half in each of its last nine day games at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Why the Texas Longhorns will win

  • Texas has won 25 of its last 27 games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
  • The road team has won the first half in each of Texas’ last three games.

Florida vs Texas Prediction

I’ll just stay with Florida here. The Gators need a good bounce-back effort here and a convincing win following their spotty loss to a pretty good Missouri team in their last game. Florida shot well in that one (48.1 percent) but also missed 10 of 31 free throws (67.7 percent) and had 13 turnovers for 18 Tigers points. In short, it was a very winnable game that Florida gave away statistically. The good news is that the Gators continue to score well. They’ve hit 71 or more points in all 17 games so far this season and should be able to continue that trend against Texas.

Speaking of the Longhorns, they played pretty well against a good Oklahoma team in their last win—despite 15 turnovers for 17 Sooners points. Texas is scoring well themselves this year with 70 or more points in seven of the last eight games (a 5-3 run). In a tough road matchup against an angry Florida team however, I don’t think Texas will quite keep the pace.

Andrew's Free Pick: Florida Gators -10.5

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Andrew

Andrew has been writing about college, professional and fantasy sports betting since 2013. Andrew's goal is to break down the complicated numbers and trends into a language that's easily accessible to novice sports bettors and seasoned professionals alike.

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