Miami vs Drake Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 3/17/23

The Drake Bulldogs and Miami Hurricanes meet Friday in the college basketball NCAA Tournament First Round at the MVP Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

The Drake Bulldogs are averaging 75.6 points on 46.6 percent shooting and allowing 64.8 points on 41.2 percent shooting. Tucker Devries is averaging 19 points and 5.6 rebounds, while Roman Penn is averaging 12.6 points and 5.4 assists. Garrett Sturtz is grabbing 6.3 rebounds and Darnell Brodie is grabbing 7.3 rebounds. The Drake Bulldogs are shooting 36.8 percent from beyond the arc and 77.5 percent from the free throw line. The Drake Bulldogs are allowing 31 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 33.6 rebounds per game.

The Miami Hurricanes are averaging 79.6 points on 48.5 percent shooting and allowing 71.7 points on 44.8 percent shooting. Isaiah Wong is averaging 16.2 points and 4.3 rebounds, while Jordan Miller is averaging 15.3 points and 6.2 rebounds. Norchad Omier is the third double-digit scorer and Nijel Pack is grabbing 2.7 rebounds. The Miami Hurricanes are shooting 37.2 percent from beyond the arc and 78 percent from the free throw line. The Miami Hurricanes are allowing 33.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 32.1 rebounds per game.

The Bulldogs are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 Friday games and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The Hurricanes are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 Friday games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The under is 6-0 in Bulldogs last 6 overall. The under is 6-2 in Hurricanes last 8 neutral site games.

The Miami Hurricanes have the coach, experience, and guard play to make a deep run in this tournament, but they’ve also had issues with defense and turnovers at times as well. The Drake Bulldogs shoot the ball as well as any team in the country, they play defense, and they take care of the ball. Drake is going to be a tough out for anybody. Give me the free bucket in a game Drake could easily win outright.