South Florida vs Temple Prediction 2/6/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Temple Owls and the South Florida Bulls meet Thursday in college basketball action from USF Sun Dome. Here’s a South Florida vs Temple prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best South Florida vs Temple pick.

Temple Owls Betting Preview

The Owls didn’t start off the year on a great run, but they’ve been solid overall since early December. Temple went 4-4 over their first eight outings, taking wins over Sacred Heart, Monmouth, Drexel, and UMass among losses to Boston College, Florida State, La Salle, and Villanova in that time. The Owls would hit a 5-2 run after that featuring losses to Rhode Island and East Carolina with wins otherwise versus Holy Family University, Hofstra, Davidson, Buffalo, and Wichita State. Since then Temple has been on another 5-2 stretch. Those losses were versus North Texas and UTSA. The wins in that time came versus Rice, Memphis, Tulane, Charlotte, and East Carolina. The result so far has been a 14-8 overall record through 22 games this season for Temple.

In the East Carolina matchup back on Saturday, the Owls came out of the break looking up at a 33-26 deficit on the scoreboard. Temple fought back to force overtime and eventually won 98-94 in the end. Leading the way in the comeback victory was Jamal Mashburn Jr. with 32 points, four assists, and two rebounds. Quante Berry added 21 points with four rebounds and Steve Settle had 16 points with seven boards, two assists, and two steals. Zion Stanford came off the bench for 19 points with four rebounds in 36 minutes of action as well.

South Florida Bulls Betting Preview

Over on the Bulls’ side, they’ve had a few pretty good runs this year mixed with some rough stretches for a .500 record overall. South Florida won five of their first eight outings, beating AR-Pine Bluff, West Georgia, Portland, Wright State, and Stetson among losses to Florida, Charleston, and Middle Tennessee. The Bulls would lose three straight to Loyola Chicago, Utah State, and Bethune-Cookman before wins over East Texas A&M, Webber International, East Carolina, and Wichita State. It’s been a rough 2-5 run since then with wins over Tulsa and Rice alongside losses otherwise versus Tulane, UAB, Charlotte, East Carolina, and Florida Atlantic in that time, giving the Bulls an 11-11 overall record through the first 22 games of the season.

Matched up against Florida Atlantic in their Sunday outing, the Bulls came out of the locker room with a 46-35 deficit. South Florida didn’t get any closer than that on a 48-37 second half and ended up losing in blowout fashion 94-72. CJ Brown led the starters in the loss with 15 points, one assist, and one steal. Jamille Reynolds added 15 points with 10 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks for a double-double, while Jayden Reid had 12 points with four boards and four assists. Kasen Jennings chipped in 11 points with one rebound as well.

Why the South Florida Bulls will win

• South Florida has won 14 of its last 15 games against the American Athletic Conference at Yuengling Center.
• The home team has won the first half in five of Temple’s last six games.

Why the Temple Owls will win

• South Florida has lost four of its last five games following a road loss.
• Temple has won 22 of its last 29 games after coming off overtime.
• South Florida has lost the first half in each of its last six games against the American Athletic Conference.

South Florida vs Temple Prediction

I’ll stay with Temple. The Owls didn’t get the greatest effort against a middling East Carolina team in their last outing, however, so they’ll need to be sharper on Thursday. Temple shot very well in that one (58.2 percent) but also allowed 50 percent on the other side with a 39-26 rebounding deficit in the overtime victory. The 20 points off 12 Pirates turnovers were a key component in the win as well. That makes consecutive overtime wins for the Owls following consecutive losses to North Texas and UTSA.

As for South Florida, they’ve only got two wins in the books since January 6 but they’re playing solid defense in general over the last five. The Bulls have given up fewer than 70 points in four of those outings (a 2-3 span) but aren’t scoring all that well themselves. Temple should be able to control things here well enough to win/cover, but I’m probably staying away.