Florida Atlantic Owls vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/16/2023

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, TN

Where to watch: CBS Sports Network

DraftKings: FAU -4.5

FanDuel: FAU -4.5

BetMGM: FAU -4.5

Caesars: FAU -4.5

No. 25 Florida Atlantic: 24-2 (14-1 C-USA)

Middle Tennessee: 15-11 (8-7 C-USA)

February is here and the college basketball season is taking full shape. Conference races still to be determined, the top 25 completely in shambles for what seems like every week, and there's bound to be an upset what seems like every single week. But as the season continues to progress with what seems like exciting action every week, you know our champion handicappers continue to put the work in each and every week to not only make money for them, but to ensure you get money in your pocket. All you need to do is look at the last 30 days. Scott Rickenbach has reeled in a net profit of $14,000 with a 24-9-0 run on the college hardwood. Team Del Genio has killed it with a 13-1-0 run at +$11,900. Will Rogers (28-15-0) and Matt Fargo (40-27-0) have also seen five figures over the last 30 days with college basketball. Surely, you want to get on this winning as well. All you need to do is go to bigal.com, check out our Best Bets page and make sure you are following along on the action. March will be here before you know it! Take advantage of our best best plays and find out what our champion handicappers are doing at bigal.com!

FAU: won 90-85 (OT) vs. Louisiana Tech

MTSU: lost 92-69 at UAB

Just when you thought that the Florida Atlantic Owls were going to fall out of the top 25 altogether for the remainder of time, here they come back with three straight victories and are sitting at 25th in the nation right now. FAU will try and make it four in a row on Thursday when they visit the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on Thursday.

 

Following that loss to UAB on Feb. 2, FAU won 90-85 in overtime against Louisiana Tech this past Saturday. It was the second straight game where the Owls scored at least 90 points in a game and did so by holding on against Rice.

 

I don't want to say that Florida Atlantic will run through the rest of the way and get themselves into the NCAA tournament. I think whether or not they win the conference championship they should be getting in there regardless. But I am curious to see how this team's under circumstances that it's never been under before finishes this season strong. Because just taking one look at Florida Atlantic schedule they have two home games left against winnable teams in UTSA and UTEP. Then it's another matchup with rice and another matchup with Louisiana Tech. So four games after this one against teams that are not very good in the Conference USA scheduling this year.

 

It's a perfect opportunity for Florida Atlantic to at least cruise to the rest of the way and win out these games. Do I think it will happen? Not really because there isn't enough evidence to think that Florida Atlantic should cruise the rest of the way. Probably because there isn't enough offense in terms of getting that going.

 

Florida Atlantic is led by guard Johnell Davis who has 13.5 points per game for an offense that averages 78 points per game. If Florida Atlantic can continue that kind of run and continue to score as many points as humanly possible, they will have a much better outcome throughout the rest of the regular season. I think things may have gotten out of hand after the UAB game but they have bounced back nicely and have looked very good doing so.

 

Middle Tennessee is coming into this game with a record of 15-11 and 8-7 in conference play. The fact that they are at home should signal good fortune for Middle Tennessee, but the last two home games were against UTSA and UTEP. It's not a good look for those guys to only be winning against teams that are much lower than them. But do I believe that teams can have a blueprint against FAU like UAB did on February 2nd? Sure because anything can happen in basketball.

 

All Florida Atlantic has to do is run the table and basically be done with everything. I am a proponent of when it's a lesser conference always take the bigger team later in order to think that you can be a hero. Right now, FAU has taken over the lead in many different ways. Florida Atlantic 81, Middle Tennessee 69

Florida Atlantic is 6-1 ATS as a road favorite or pick this season.

Florida Atlantic is 10-2 ATS after 2 straight game giving up 9 offensive rebounds or less this season.

Middle Tennessee is 4-0 ATS as a home underdog of 3.5 to 6 the last 3 seasons.

PG: Alijah Martin

SG: Jalen Gaffney

SF: Nicholas Boyd

PF: Johnell Davis

C: Vladislav Goldin

PG: Jestin Porter

SG: Tyler Millin

SF: Justin Bufford

PF: DeAndre Dishman

C: Eli Lawrence