Furman vs Florida Gulf Coast Prediction College Basketball Picks 12/4/24

The Furman Paladins and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Alico Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Furman vs. Florida Gulf Coast prediction.

Furman Recap

The Furman Paladins come into this one looking to bounce back from an 86-51 loss at the hands of Kansas last time out. After this game, Furman will head home for a matchup with Princeton.

Paladins Looking To Bounce Back From First Loss Of The Year

PJay Smith Jr. leads the Paladins in scoring and assists with 17.3 PPG and 4.3 APG while Nick Anderson has 10.1 PPG with 2.6 APG to cap off the pair of double-digit scorers for Furman up to this point in the year. Garrett Hien also has 8.9 PPG with a team-high 5.6 RPG and 3.3 APG while Cooper Bowser has 8.1 PPG as well on the year. As a team, Furman is averaging 79.5 PPG on 48.5% shooting from the field, 38.5% from three, and 63.6% from the foul line this season.

Why the Furman Paladins will win

• Furman has won each of its last seven night games.
• Florida Gulf Coast has lost five of its last six night games.

Florida Gulf Coast Recap

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles will be out to add on to an 80-78 win over FAU last time out to improve to 3-5 on the year. After this game, FGCU will head on the road for a matchup with LSU.

Eagles Win Back-To-Back Games

Dallion Johnson leads the Eagles in scoring with 13.4 PPG while Zavian McLean has 10.1 PPG and Keeshawn Kellman has 10.3 PPG with 5.3 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Florida Gulf Coast up to this point in the year. Jevin Muniz also has 9.8 PPG with team-highs of 5.9 RPG and 4.1 APG to lead the Eagles in rebounding and assists up to this point in the year. As a team, Florida Gulf Coast is averaging 63.8 PPG on 43.4% shooting from the field, 33.3% from three, and 69.7% from the foul line this season.

Why the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles will win

• Florida Gulf Coast has won 10 of its last 11 night games against non-conference opponents at Alico Arena.
• Furman has lost seven of its last eight Wednesday games against non-conference opponents.

Furman vs. Florida Gulf Coast Prediction

I’m on Furman here. I know it’s a road game for the Paladins, but Furman’s been solid for much of the year and I’m not holding the loss to Kansas against them. Florida Gulf Coast is fairly battle-tested, but this is a Florida Gulf Coast team that doesn’t necessarily do a lot of things overly well offensively, they do shoot a fair number of threes, but they’re going up against the 2nd-best 3-point defense in the country in Furman. I think the Paladins slow down FGCU and get the road win here.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Furman -3