The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Louisville Cardinals meet Saturday in college basketball action from KFC Yum! Center. Here’s a Louisville vs Georgia Tech prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Louisville vs Georgia Tech pick.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Betting Preview
The Yellow Jackets weren’t looking too bad in early January, sitting at a 10-5 record across their first 15 outings of the season. Georgia Tech hit the skids after that though, losing to Syracuse, Miami, Pitt, Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Cal, Stanford, Wake Forest and Notre Dame (with a lone win over NC State) in the next 11 outings. That made for an 11-15 run over the first 26 games.
In game 27 on Wednesday versus Virginia, the Jackets were demolished 59-27 in the first half. Georgia Tech got better from there on a 41-35 advantage but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to prevent the blowout defeat 94-68 on their home court. Jaeden Mustaf led the charge on 18 points with six rebounds in the loss and Baye Ndongo added 13 points with eight rebounds and two assists.
Louisville Cardinals Betting Preview
Over on the Louisville side, they took just four losses over their first 15 games this year. Next came a 3-2 run with wins over Boston College, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech among losses to Virginia and Duke. Wins over SMU, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, NC State and Baylor came in the next five outings. Over their first 25 outings of the year that would give the Cardinals a 19-6 record in the books.
Matched up against SMU on Tuesday the Cards were in trouble at the break on a 52-49 deficit. Louisville didn’t get any closer than that, limping through a 43-36 run the rest of the way during a 95-85 loss on the road. Tops in scoring during the losing effort was Mikel Brown with 29 points, five rebounds and four assists. J’Vonne Hadley added 14 points with nine rebounds.
Why the Louisville Cardinals will win
- Louisville has won each of its last 35 games as an AP-ranked team against a non-AP-ranked team at KFC Yum! Center.
- Georgia Tech has lost each of its last eight games.
- Georgia Tech has lost the first half in each of its last 12 games.
Louisville vs Georgia Tech Prediction
I’ll stick with Louisville. The Cardinals are going to need a good bounce-back effort here after a road loss to SMU this week. In that one Louisville shot fairly well (44.8 percent) but also gave up 58.5 percent shooting on the other side. The 46-30 deficit in the paint and 17 turnovers didn’t help matters either. The Cardinals are still 5-1 in their last six games though, scoring 76 or more points in all of those outings (and 82 or more in five of them).
As for Georgia Tech, they hit the wall against a good Virginia team in their latest home loss, posting just 37.5 percent from the field with 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from 3-point range and a 49-29 rebounding deficit. The 16 turnovers and 45.6 percent shooting allowed on defense were both detrimental as well. Georgia Tech has lost eight straight games, and they’ve got another tough matchup in this one.