Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Florida Gators Prediction, 3/9/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Florida Gators

Date: Thursday, March 9, 2023

Location: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN

TV: SECN

The Mississippi State Bulldogs (20-11) are traveling to Bridgestone Arena on Thursday where they will try to beat the Florida Gators (16-15).

The Mississippi State Bulldogs faced off with Vanderbilt and took a loss by a final of 77-72 in their last contest. Mississippi State ended the contest with a 45.9% field goal percentage (28 of 61) and converted 4 out of their 17 3-pointers. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Bulldogs made 12 of 21 shots for a rate of 57.1%. With respect to grabbing boards, they earned a total of 42 with 21 of them being offensive. They also distributed 10 dimes in the game while forcing 7 turnovers and earning 4 steals. In terms of defending, Mississippi State allowed their opponent to shoot 49.1% from the field on 26 of 53 shooting. Vanderbilt doled out 12 dimes and had 7 steals for this contest. Additionally, Vanderbilt collected 21 boards (7 offensive, 14 defensive), but finished the game with no rejections. Vanderbilt ended up shooting 72.2% at the free throw line by converting 13 of 18 attempts. They also converted 12 of 25 tries from three-point range. Concerning personal fouls, the Bulldogs finished with 17 and Vanderbilt accumulated 15 personal fouls.

Tolu Smith is one guy who was a major factor for this contest. He left the arena with 27 points on 9 of 17 shooting. He played 31 mins played and snagged 11 rebounds. He finished the game shooting 52.9% from the field and also totaled 2 assists.

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Mississippi State heads into this one with a record of 20-11 for the campaign. They cough up possession 12.5 times per game and as a team they are committing 15.2 fouls per contest. As a unit, Mississippi State is collecting 37.1 rebounds per game and has tallied 447 assists on the campaign, which has them ranked 108th in the nation in terms of passing. The Bulldogs are shooting 27.3% on shots from 3-point land (169 of 619) and 64.6% from the charity stripe. They have an average of 66.4 points per game (316th in D-1) while connecting on 42.8% from the floor.

On defense, the Bulldogs are forcing their opponents into 14.7 turnovers per contest while drawing 17.3 fouls. They relinquish 30.9% from beyond the arc and they are ranked 8th in college hoops in opponents PPG (60.4). The Bulldogs defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 39.3% (655 of 1,666) and they surrender 33.3 rebounds per game as a group. They are currently ranked 131st in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 380 conceded for the season.

When they last stepped on the court, the Florida Gators got the victory with a final of 79-67 against LSU. The Gators collected 22 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive boards totaling 33 in the game. They also turned it over 8 times, while getting 7 steals in this game. LSU earned 18 personal fouls for the game which got the Gators to the free throw line for a total of 20 tries. They were able to knock down 13 of them for a rate of 65.0%. Concerning three-point shots, Florida made 10 out of 25 attempts (40.0%). When the game finished, the Gators walked away from this one shooting 28 for 61 from the floor which gave them a percentage of 45.9%. The Gators allowed LSU to bury 23 of 60 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 38.3% in the game. They went 18.8% from beyond the arc by shooting 3 of 16 and ended up shooting 18 out of 25 at the free throw line (72.0%). Concerning cleaning up the glass, Florida allowed LSU to collect 40 in all (14 on the offensive side).

Riley Kugel ended up having an impact for the Gators for the game. He had 21 points in his 32 mins of playing time and had 1 assist for the matchup. He converted 8 of 14 for this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 57.1%, and earned 3 rebounds.

Florida has a win-loss mark of 16-15 for the year. The Gators are responsible for committing 16.3 personal fouls every game and they connect on 72.1% from the free throw line. Their rate of earning assists is at 12.4 times per contest (237th in the nation) and they are turning it over 10.9 times per contest. Florida has accounted for 2,234 pts so far this year (72.1 per game) and they snag 34.8 rebounds per contest. As an offensive unit, the Gators are hitting on 44.1% from the field, which is ranked 216th in D-1.

The Gators defensively are ranked 137th in Division 1 in points allowed per game with 68.6. They are forcing their opponents into 12.1 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 41.2% from the floor (44th in college hoops). The Florida defense gives up 31.8% on shots from 3-point land (184 of 579) and their opposition knocks down 70.9% of their foul shots. They surrender 11.1 assists and 38.4 total boards per game, which ranks them 66th and 352nd in college hoops.

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Mississippi State

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