Two of the best offensive teams in the country and two of the best teams overall meet in a possible SEC Tournament title game preview and Final Four preview as No. 5 Florida visits No. 7 Alabama with a mammoth total on the NCAA basketball lines.
The SEC is so loaded that neither of these teams will win the regular-season title – No. 1 Auburn will. Florida (25-4 overall) and Alabama (23-6) are tied for second at 12-4 in the league, three games behind the Tigers but with the regular season ending this weekend. Finishing second would mean avoiding Auburn until the SEC title game.
| Opening Spread/Totals Subject to Change: Alabama -3 (total 178) Expert Prediction: Alabama 87, Florida 83 |
Both the Gators and Crimson Tide also have a shot at a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance, although this game’s loser will have an uphill challenge for that. ESPN currently lists Florida as a No. 2 seed in the West Region and opening vs. No. 15 Central Connecticut. It has Alabama as a No. 1 in the Midwest and facing No. 16 Bryant.
This is the only scheduled meeting of the season between these rivals. Alabama ranks No. 1 in the nation in scoring at 91.0 points per game and Florida No. 9 at 83.8. They met three times last season with the Gators winning two of them, including in the SEC Tournament, but losing 98-93 in OT in Tuscaloosa as the Tide scored the first seven points of OT.
Grant Nelson
Nelson, still a key player for Bama, had a stellar game with 22 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots. The Tide had rallied from a 10-point deficit over the final 9 minutes of regulation. Walter Clayton Jr. led Florida with 27 points but missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the end of OT. UF now leads the all-time series 80-71.
^How to Bet Florida vs Alabama NCAA basketball Lines & TV Info
NCAAB Moneylines: Alabama -156 / Florida +127
When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Coleman Coliseum
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN+
^
Gators Have Won Past 3 vs. Ranked Teams
After a stunning loss last Tuesday at Georgia, Florida bounced back with an 89-70 home win over No. 12 Texas A&M on Saturday. UF trailed by six early but started hitting from long range to close the gap and build a double-digit lead. Will Richard had the hot hand and scored 17 points in the second half, thanks mostly to five 3s. His 3 with 4:52 remaining was a dagger.
Will Richard
Richard finished with 25 points and made six 3-pointers. He was the high-point man for the Gators and among five UF players in double figures. But it was the team’s collective work on the glass – a 42-37 overall edge and virtual tie on the offensive end (A&M by 1) and second-chance points (A&M by 1) – that most pleased Coach Todd Golden in what he called a “great bounce-back” from the UGA loss.
UF’s 89 points were the second-most scored this season against the Aggies, the nation’s No. 7 defense in efficiency coming in. The Gators won the battle of the boards, 42-37, and played A&M to a 15-14 near-standoff on the offensive end, where the Aggies lead in the nation. UF held the Aggies to 38.9 percent and just five 3-pointers at 29.4 percent. A&M had just three assists for the game.
Todd Golden
“Just going toe to toe with those guys for 40 minutes and seeing how physical they are, how much talent they have, how competitive they are, I’m just incredibly proud of the way we played and our ability to kind of get away from them at the end,” Golden said. “But they made it really hard on us in the second half.”
^NCAA basketball Lines provided by MyBookie
Tide Off Rare Offensive Struggles
Alabama is having an historic offensive season but was held to 76 points on Saturday in a buzzer-beating loss at No. 5 Tennessee to fall for the third time in five games. The Volunteers got the final shot by forcing a five-second inbounds violation under Alabama’s basket with 3.8 seconds left. Jahmai Mashack raced up the court and hit a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc at the buzzer. Bama led 76-72 with 30 seconds left and nearly doubled the amount of time led during the game, leading for 21:10 compared to Tennessee owning the advantage for just 11:24
Nate Oats
“Tough way to lose. I will take most of the blame the last 30 seconds, it is on me. We subbed our bigs out to get the rebound before I should have, and I should not have subbed them out until after we secured the rebound,” Coach Oats said. “I had a chance to call a timeout; coaches can call a timeout on the underneath out of bounds play and at four (seconds) I should have called it. I thought we were getting it in and that is on me. We work on end of the game situations in practice, and we expect our players to be good at it and I was not good for the last 30 seconds of the game.”
Mark Sears led Alabama with a game-high 24 points and four assists, while Labaron Philon (13) and Aden Holloway (11) also reached double figures. Philon added five steals and four assists to match Sears for the team lead and Grant Nelson added a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with his seven points. The Tide failed to reach 80 points for just the second time in SEC play (64 vs. Ole Miss on Jan. 14) and fourth time this year.
^NCAA basketball Lines: Florida vs Alabama Game Trends
- Gators are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games.
- Florida are 4-2 ATS in their last 6 games played on a Wednesday.
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Florida’s last 7 games on the road.
- In the last 9 games played in March by Florida, the total has gone OVER in 8.
- Crimson Tide are 13-5 ATS in their last 18 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Alabama’s last 6 games.
- Alabama are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games played in March.
- The total has gone OVER in 7 of Alabama’s last 7 games against Florida.
Florida at Alabama NCAA basketball Lines & Expert Prediction
This marks the second meeting in series history with both teams ranked in the top 10, previously occurring on Feb. 23, 2002, as the #8 Gators lost a 65-64 road meeting at fifth-ranked Alabama. Florida owns four top-25 wins this season, matching last season’s total and the team’s second-most over the past decade (six, 2017-18). Two of those four have come on the road: at #1 Auburn, at #22 Mississippi State.
Walter Clayton Jr.
Florida has reached 25 wins in the regular season for the third time in school history and senior guard Clayton Jr. has been selected as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award. He leads the Gators with 16.9 points per game, 77 3-point field goals and 113 assists this season. With Clayton leading the attack, UF’s 16.9 fastbreak points per game ranks in the top three nationally. Clayton is the seventh player in program history to score 1,100 points over two seasons and the sixth to hit 170 3-pointers over two. Clayton has also made a 3-pointer in a UF-record 51 consecutive appearances.
Mark Sears
Alabama’s Sears also has been named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award. Sears is Division I’s active leader in points (2,706 career points) and the only player in the SEC to rank in the top-two in scoring (No. 2, 19.1 ppg) and assists (No. 2, 5.0 apg). He ranks seventh on Alabama’s all-time scoring list with 1,815 points at UA. Since 2004, Sears is the 17th player in Division I to have 67 career games scoring 20 points or more (definitely to consider in the NCAA basketball lines and props).
Bama has nine wins over AP Top 25 opponents, setting the program record for most AP wins in a single season, surpassing the 2022-23 team. The Tide’s three wins over AP Top-10 teams this year is the most in a season since the 1982-83 campaign. Alabama 87, Florida 83.
^How to Watch: No. 6 Alabama Basketball vs. No. 3 Florida
— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) March 2, 2025
No. 1 Auburn clinched the SEC regular season title, meaning just the No. 2 spot in the standings is up for grabs.
Wednesday's winner takes the spot before the final game of regular season.https://t.co/tNdHpKYNAU
| NCAA basketball Lines: Place your Bets anywhere, anytime by downloading the MyBookie APP You May Like: John Wooden Award | March Madness Predictions |
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2024 Florida vs Alabama NCAA basketball Lines
The lone Top 25 matchup around college basketball on Wednesday is from the SEC as No. 24 Florida visits No. 13 Alabama, which leads the conference and is a solid favorite on the NCAAB odds. It features two of the best offensive teams in the country with Bama first nationally in scoring and Florida ninth. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis #24 Florida vs #13 Alabama | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 16 NCAAB
How to Bet Florida at Alabama NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info
When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Coleman Coliseum
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
NCAA basketball Lines: Alabama -4 (total 90)
#24 Florida vs #13 Alabama Last Meeting
This is the first of two scheduled meetings this season with the Tide visiting Florida on March 5. Last season, they played just once and Bama destroyed the visiting Gators 97-69 – the Tide were up 29 at the half. Brandon Miller led them with 24 points overall but is now in the NBA. Mark Sears made 4 of 6 3s and scored 19 for Alabama and he’s the best player on this year’s team. Colin Castleton led Florida with 29 points and 10 rebounds. The Tide have won three straight in the series and lead all-time 78-70.
Why Bet on Florida Gators?
The Gators (18-7, 8-4) might have been an NCAA Tournament bubble team a week or two ago but aren’t any longer on a three-game winning streak following an 88-82 win at Georgia on Saturday. The Bulldogs opened the game by hitting their first seven shots and led 46-40 at the half behind 17 point from Noah Thomasson.
Florida Last 5
| @ Georgia – W88-82 |
| vs LSU – W82-80 |
| vs Auburn – W81-65 |
| @ Texas A&M – L67-66 |
| @ Kentucky – W94-91 |
Florida started the second half with a 12-4 run, taking its first lead. Georgia was down 58-53 at the under-12 timeout, struggling with seven turnovers and a 10-minute field goal drought, until Blue Cain hit a three-pointer to narrow the gap.
Georgia trailed 83-80 after Thomasson’s fifth 3-pointer but couldn’t recover as Florida secured victory with crucial free throws. The Gators restricted Georgia to 37.5 percent shooting in the second half and forced 10 turnovers for 14 points.
UF junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored 21 points, while freshman forward Thomas Haugh contributed a career-high 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench. This victory marked UF’s third consecutive win and seventh in eight games, extending their series streak against UGA to ten and providing coach Todd Golden his fourth win against former coach Mike White. Haugh shot six of nine from the field, and fifth-year guard Zyon Pullin added 16 points and secured the victory with clutch free throws. UGA suffered its sixth straight loss.
Florida was 20-for-26 from the free-throw line (80.8 percent), with Pullin, Will Richard and Clayton a combined 17-for-17. The Bulldogs scored just 36 points in the second half, shot 37.5 percent in the second half and turned it over 10 times leading to 16 UF points.
Mike White
“Florida is an NCAA Tournament team,” said UGA’s White, who’s in the midst of the longest losing skid of his 13 seasons as a college head coach in stops at Louisiana Tech, Florida and Georgia. “They’re really good. They share it. They’re long and skilled, get stops and force turnovers when they need to.”
The Gators’ recent success stems from their ball management, with single-digit turnovers in six of eight games. Pullin leads the SEC in assist/turnover ratio (4.1 overall, 4.4 conference) and ranks second in assists (4.9). He has a 22-game streak of scoring 10+ points this season.
On Monday, the Gators entered the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in over two years. This game marks UF’s Golden’s debut coaching a ranked team. Only three players, including fifth-year forward Tyrese Samuel, have experience with ranked squads on the current roster.
“Yes, it’s a great accomplishment and a big part of the process of becoming a good team,” said Golden, whose USF Dons got as close as “also receiving votes” during the ’21-22 season. “But the message to our guys was, ‘Hey, this can’t be the highlight of our season. If we’re looking back in a month and a half and saying, the highlight of the season was when we beat Georgia and got voted No. 24 then we’re going to be disappointed.”
Florida is averaging 84.8 points per game, which is on pace to break the record of 84.2 set by the Vernon Maxwell-led team of 1986-87 that went to the first NCAA Tournament in program history. That also was the first season of the universal 3-point line in college basketball.
Bet Florida to Win
Vegas College Basketball Odds
Why Bet on Alabama Crimson Tide?
Alabama (18-7, 10-2) won its second straight game on Saturday, a 100-75 home rout of a good Texas A&M team. Already the nation’s top offensive rebounding team, the Aggies clawed their way to 26 offensive boards, which was the team’s fourth game with 25 or more. The Maroon & White’s work on the offensive glass led to 21 second-chance points and 42 points in the paint.
Alabama Last 5
| vs Texas A&M – W100-75 |
| @ LSU – W109-92 |
| @ Auburn – L99-81 |
| vs Mississippi St. – W99-67 |
| @ Georgia – W85-76 |
The Crimson Tide dominated, shooting 52% from the field and 44% from three, scoring 22 fast-break points, while Texas A&M managed only four. Alabama led most of the game, achieving a 25-point victory and a 16-game home win streak.
The Crimson Tide drained 18 three-pointers in the contest on the way to securing the team’s eighth 100-point game of the season, the most in college basketball in nearly 30 dating back to the 1995-96 Kentucky national championship team.
Mark Sears scored 23 points, his 16th 20-point game this season, contributing four assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Rylan Griffen (17), Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (16), Aaron Estrada (11), and Sam Walters (11) added double figures.
Nate Oats
“This was a big win,” Coach Oats said. “We have teams right on our tail in this SEC race, so we’ve got to protect the home floor. We didn’t do a great job on the defensive glass, they rebounded 52 percent of their misses. I told the team first we have to try to turn them over. Second, we have to actually box out and rebound, and we weren’t great on that. Third, I said after they get an offensive rebound, we still have to get a stop.”
Sears is a strong contender for SEC Player of the Year, leading the SEC in scoring at 20.6 ppg and ranking in the top 10 for assists and steals. He has scored 20 points or more in eight consecutive games, the first since Colin Sexton in 2017-18.
This year’s Crimson Tide has achieved eight 100-point games and 12 games with 90 or more points. Under Oats, they’ve scored 100 in 10 SEC games, while the rest of the league has just 10. With a 90.7 ppg average, Alabama boasts the nation’s top scoring offense, recently hitting 36 threes at 42.3%.
During conference play Alabama’s Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is shooting 45.2 percent from three-point range, which ranks No. 2 in the SEC. He was 4-for-6 from deep on Saturday.
“Any time he’s open he should shoot the ball. He’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached; why he would ever pass up an open shot is beyond me,” Oats said of Wrightsell.
Over the last five seasons, the Crimson Tide have posted 10 games converting 18 or more three-pointers in a game, the rest of the SEC has a combined five games during that span. Alabama is 16-21 against AP Top-25 opponents under Oats all-time.
Bet Alabama to Win
College Basketball Betting Lines
#24 Florida vs #13 Alabama Expert Prediction
Alabama 83, Florida 80
NCAA Basketball Odds to Win Championship – Top 10
| UConn Huskies +510 | Purdue Boilermakers +710 |
| Houston Cougars +890 | Arizona Wildcats +1200 |
| Tennessee Volunteers +1275 | North Carolina Tar Heels +1775 |
| Auburn Tigers +1875 | Alabama Crimson Tide +2000 |
| Kansas Jayhawks +2200 | Iowa State Cyclones +2300 |
#15 Alabama vs Florida, January 5, 2022
#15 Alabama vs Florida | NCAA basketball Lines
It’s two contenders in the SEC squaring off in one of the marquee college basketball games on Wednesday as No. 15 Alabama visits unranked but dangerous Florida. The game opened as a pick’em on the NCAAB odds.
- When: Wednesday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Exactech Arena
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: ESPN app
- Radio: Tunein.com
- NCAA basketball Lines: Pick’em (total 149)
Last Meeting
Alabama leads the series 76-70, having won the only meeting in the ’20-21 season, 86-71 in Tuscaloosa. The Tide seeks its third win in Gainesville in four trips, with their last visit ending in a double overtime loss, 104-98, on Jan. 4, 2020.
Why Bet on Alabama?
The Tide (10-3, 1-0 SEC) are off a 73-68 win over No. 14 Tennessee last Wednesday. Alabama used a 16-5 run over the final 6:02 to rally. It marked the Crimson Tide’s third win over a top-15 team this season.
Graduate transfer Noah Gurley excelled, achieving his first double-double for Alabama with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jahvon Quinerly contributed 18 points, Jaden Shackelford added 12, and Keon Ellis recorded nine points and five assists.
The win marked the Crimson Tide’s 17th-consecutive home victory and the third-straight over Tennessee in the series – the first time UA has defeated UT in three-consecutive games in the series since doing so from 2011-13. Entering the game, Tennessee had held five of its previous six opponents to less than 57 points and was averaging giving up just 59.3 points per game.
KenPom rankings
According to the most recent rankings (as of 1/3), the Tide rank No. 13 in the nation in offensive efficiency, No. 13 in average possession length and No. 31 in adjusted tempo. The site also ranks UA No. 46 in the nation and defensive efficiency.
Bama enters the contest ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 17 in the nation in scoring offense at 82.2 points per game. UA also leads the league in all three-point categories, checking in nationally at No. 15 in the nation in threes attempted (384), No. 32 in threes made (126) and No. 38 in threes made per game (9.7).
Crimson Tide’s offense
This is driven by Shackelford (16.5 ppg), Quinerly (14.9 ppg), and Ellis (12.2 ppg), who collectively contribute 53% of points, 70% of three-pointers, 51% of field goals, and 48% of free throws for the team.
Why Bet on Florida?
The Gators (9-3, 0-0 SEC) last played on Dec. 22, defeating Stony Brook 87-62. They shot 53.3%, with four players scoring in double figures, including Phlandrous Fleming Jr. who led with 20 points and four 3-pointers.
Fleming, reinserted into the lineup after Myreon Jones was sidelined, scored 20 points, shooting 6-for-8 overall and 4-for-5 from three-point range, marking his best performance at UF. Jones will be cleared to play. Fleming’s recent accuracy has improved to 37.8 percent from the arc over the last four games.
In nine wins, UF held opponents to 40.3% shooting; in three losses, those rates rose to 50.9% overall and 44.7% from three-point range.
CJ Felder, has been a pleasant surprise shooting the ball from deep this season. Felder came from Boston College as a career 26.7-percent shooter from the arc, but he’s 8-for-18 thus far (.444) and has made five of his last seven over three games.
A total of 28.7 percent of field-goal attempts surrendered by Florida have been 3-point tries. That’s the seventh-lowest percentage in the country and No. 1 among all power conference teams.
Game Trends
- Crimson Tide are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 road games.
- Crimson Tide are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
- Gators are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Gators are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 home games.
- Road team is 20-5-1 ATS in the last 26 meetings.
Expert Prediction
- Alabama 74, Florida 72
MyBookie College Basketball
NCAAB Odds and Lines
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| NIT | CIT | CBI |
| National Championship Championship |
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| March Madness Predictions |
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