Florida Gulf Coast vs Drake Prediction College Basketball Picks 11/16/24

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and the Drake Bulldogs meet Saturday in college basketball action from Knapp Center. Here’s an FGCU vs Drake prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best FGCU vs Drake pick. We will examine:

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles’ recent form and player performance

The Drake Bulldogs’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Drake Bulldogs

Recent betting trends in games played between FGCU and Drake

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the FGCU vs Drake game

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Betting Preview

The Eagles have three games in the books so far, and they’ve come away with Ls in each of them. Florida Gulf Coast kicked things off with a 73-64 loss to UNC Greensboro in the opener. Game two was another defeat, this time 67-51 versus TCU.

On Wednesday versus St. Bonaventure, the Eagles went into the locker room trailing 38-34. FGCU wouldn’t end up getting any closer, however, and stumbled to a 74-65 defeat. Zavian McLean topped the team with 16 points and five boards in the losing effort.

Drake Bulldogs Betting Preview

Over on the Drake side, they got off to a good start versus an overmatched York College team. The Bulldogs scored 50 points in the first half and 43 more after the break in a 93-41 blowout win. Daniel Abreu led the team on 30 points with four boards.

In game two versus Stephen F. Austin, Drake was in trouble at halftime with a 26-25 deficit. The Bulldogs got it together from there, however, hitting a 41-25 run for a 66-51 win. Mitch Masari was tops on 26 points with four rebounds this time.

Why the Drake Bulldogs will win

• Drake has won each of its last 27 night games against non-conference opponents at Knapp Center.
• Florida Gulf Coast has lost each of its last four night games.
• Florida Gulf Coast has lost the first half in each of its last four night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

FGCU vs Drake Prediction

I’ll probably just stay with Drake. The Bulldogs got off to a slow start in their last game versus Stephen F. Austin but found their bearings in the second half. Drake would shoot 48.8 percent from the field in that one, but there’s plenty to clean up. Namely a 33-29 rebounding deficit, 17 turnovers, and a rough 14-of-25 (56 percent) from the line.

As for FGCU, they shot just 39.7 percent from the field with 12 turnovers in their loss to the Bonnies on Wednesday. The Eagles haven’t scored more than 65 points in any game so far, and I don’t think they’ll get too far past that mark here either.