Florida Gulf Coast vs North Florida Prediction 2/8/25 College Basketball Picks

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and the North Florida Ospreys meet Saturday in college basketball action from UNF Arena. Here’s a Florida Gulf Coast vs North Florida prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Florida Gulf Coast vs North Florida pick. We will examine: 

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles’ recent form and player performance

The North Florida Ospreys’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the North Florida Ospreys

Recent betting trends in games played between Florida Gulf Coast and North Florida

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Florida Gulf Coast vs North Florida game

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Betting Preview

The Eagles started out the year on a pretty choppy run, but they’ve been better in the record column since mid-December. Florida Gulf Coast lost to UNC Greensboro, TCU, St. Bonaventure, Drake, Northeastern, Furman, LSU, and UNC Wilmington in their first 11 games. An 8-1 run came next with wins over Florida Tech, Richmond, West Georgia, North Alabama, Central Arkansas, West Georgia, Queens U, and Bellarmine (with a loss to Queens U). Since then it’s been a 2-2 run with losses to Eastern Kentucky on each side of wins versus Jacksonville and Stetson, giving the Eagles a 13-11 overall record so far this year. 

In the home rematch versus Eastern Kentucky, the Eagles came out of the break sporting a 48-33 deficit. Florida Gulf Coast didn’t end up getting any closer than that, posting a 44-41 deficit the rest of the way to a 92-74 loss. Zavian McLean led the team with 23 points, six rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Dallion Johnson added 18 points with two steals and one rebound, while Keeshawn Kellman had 14 points with five boards in 30 minutes of work. 

North Florida Ospreys Betting Preview

Over on the North Florida side, they had a rough run going in early January but they’ve cleaned things up a bit since then record-wise. The Ospreys kicked off with a 7-4 stretch, taking out South Carolina, Charleston Southern, Georgia Tech, Edward Waters, SIU Edwardsville, Warner University, and UNC Greensboro in that time. After losses to UNC Asheville, Florida, Austin Peay, Lipscomb, and Eastern Kentucky, the Ospreys won six of their next eight. The losses were versus North Alabama and West Georgia. Otherwise, it was wins over Bellarmine, Central Arkansas, Queens U, Stetson, Jacksonville, and Bellarmine. The result so far has been a 13-11 overall record for the Ospreys through their first 24 outings of the season. 

Matched up against Bellarmine in the Thursday outing, the Ospreys hit a 45-41 advantage in the first half. North Florida kept it up with a 50-47 run the rest of the way and took the eventual win 95-88. Leading the way was Jasai Miles with 22 points and eight rebounds with three assists. Kamrin Oriol added 21 points with five rebounds and three assists off the bench, while Josh Harris had 16 points, five rebounds, and two books in 22 minutes of work. 

Why the North Florida Ospreys will win

• Florida Gulf Coast has lost five of its last six road day games against Conference opponents.
• North Florida has won four of its last five games against the ASUN Conference.
• North Florida has won the first half in four of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles will win

• North Florida has lost each of its last seven day games against Conference opponents.
• Florida Gulf Coast has won seven of its last nine games.
• North Florida has lost the first half in each of its last three day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Florida Gulf Coast vs North Florida Prediction

I’ll probably stay with North Florida in this one. We should have a pretty good matchup if both teams play to their capabilities, though. The Ospreys are coming off a decent win over a struggling Bellarmine team this week, despite giving up 50 percent shooting and coughing up 17 turnovers for 19 Knights points. North Florida shot 50.9 percent from the field themselves and had a 37-24 rebounding edge—not to mention the 27-of-28 (96.4 percent) from the line). That gives the Ospreys 90 or more points in four of the last five games, with all four being wins. Provided North Florida can keep up the scoring clip, I don’t think FGCU will be able to stay close enough to cover on Saturday.