Liberty vs Florida Gulf Coast 2/23/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and the Liberty Flames meet in college basketball action from the Liberty Arena on Wednesday night.

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles will look to bounce back from a 70-64 loss to North Florida last time out. Tavian Dunn-Martin leads the Eagles in scoring and assists with 20 PPG and 6.3 APG while Cyrus Largie has 10.8 PPG with 4.9 RPG and Kevin Samuel has 11.8 PPG with a team-high 9.9 RPG to lead the Eagles on the glass and to round out the trio of double-digit scorers for Florida Gulf Coast so far this season. As a team, Florida Gulf Coast is averaging 77.5 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field, 35.1% from three and 67% from the foul line while allowing 73.1 PPG on 43.3% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three this season.

The Liberty Flames will look to build on back-to-back wins after a 85-66 win over Central Arkansas last time out. Darius McGhee leads the Flames in scoring with 23.8 PPG with 4.2 RPG and 3.6 APG while Keegan McDowell has 10.3 PPG and Shiloh Robinson has 10.3 PPG with 4.3 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Liberty so far this season. Kyle Rode has a team-high 4.1 APG to lead the Flames in the assist department and 4.6 RPG to lead the Flames on the glass as well. As a team, Liberty is averaging 74 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field, 40.1% from three and 74.5% from the foul line while allowing 62.7 PPG on 40.2% shooting from the field and 32.4% from three this season.

Florida Gulf Coast is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 road games and 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 41-19-2 in their last 62 games following a loss. Liberty is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 home games.

I get the case to be made for Liberty laying points at home here, but the Flames have been good at winning games, not necessarily covering as of late. FGCU has been tough to back on the road, but a lot of that has to do with the Eagles laying too many points. In the underdog role, the Eagles are a lot more attractive. I’ll take my chances with the Eagles and the points here.