Miami at Florida State Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

Both No. 25 Miami and No. 15 Florida State are safely in the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in their game Saturday or in next week’s ACC Tournament. Both the Canes and Noles are playing for a Top-4 seed in the ACC tourney, however. The winner will be in good shape for one. Be sure to take a look at more NCAAB spreads by clicking here.

Miami at Florida State Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

When: Saturday, March 4, 4 PM ET Where: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee TV: ACC Extra Opening NCAAB Lines: FSU favored by TBA

Why Bet On Miami?

The Hurricanes (20-9) had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 66-61 defeat at Virginia Tech on Monday. Miami, which entered The Associated Press’ Top 25 earlier in the day for the first time this season, led 50-48 with just under seven minutes to go, but the Hokies went on a 12-4 run to take the lead for good. Virginia Tech scored on five straight possessions, with the final five points coming on a 3-pointer by Ty Outlaw and a dunk by Zach LeDay that gave the Hokies a 60-54 lead with 2:11 remaining. Virginia Tech then made 6 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 1:05 to hold off the Hurricanes. UM sophomore guard Anthony Lawrence, Jr., finished the evening with his highest point total since scoring 19 at NC State, Feb 4. He tallied 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three made shots from beyond the arc. Redshirt senior forward Kamari Murphy finished the night with 13 points, two rebounds, three assists and one block. He has a block in 11 of the last 16 games, while scoring double digits in five of the past eight games. Miami forced 11 turnovers, the 21st game this season the Canes have forced the opponent to cough it up more than 10 times. “We gave up too many threes, too many free throws and those were the two points of emphasis that we wanted to take away,” UM coach Jim Larranaga said. “We didn’t want to put them on the foul line and we didn’t want to give them a chance to get double digits with made threes. Because the last time we played them, they only made four, tonight they made 10 and that is the difference in the game.” Miami is 11-22 under Coach Larrañaga when entering a game as the underdog against an AP top-25 ranked team. The Canes are 6-11 when the opponent is in the AP top 10, and 3-4 when the game is at home against an AP top-10 team.

Why Bet On FSU?

The Noles are guaranteed a Top-4 ACC seed with a win. They come off a 75-70 loss at No. 17 Duke on Tuesday. Dwayne Bacon scored 19 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes had 15 for the Seminoles (23-7, 11-6), who had their two-game winning streak snapped. Florida State pulled to 71-63 on Bacon’s free throw with 2:23 to play before Jayson Tatum countered with a jumper to put Duke up by 10 points. FSU trailed by as much as 19 points in the second half and could never cut its deficit to within two possessions down the stretch. Twice the Seminoles cut Duke’s lead to eight points when the game was still in the balance, but the Blue Devils had a response each time. FSU’s three centers combined to shoot 1 for 10 from the floor, including 0 for 7 in the first half. “We have nobody to blame but ourselves tonight,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “You’ve got to be at your very best to be successful against a team of this caliber. And tonight we were not at our best.” After playing three of its last four games on the road, FSU is headed home in search of a perfect home slate. The Seminoles are 17-0 at the Donald L. Tucker Center this season, and haven’t made it through a whole season unscathed at home since 1975-76. Of the Top 10 teams in the ACC, only one (Virginia) has lost three or more ACC games at home. Those 10 teams are 70-13 (84.3%) at home in league action. Florida State is 6-0 in ACC play when it scores 88 or more points. The Seminoles are 8-0 when they lead at halftime of an ACC game and 19-1 when they have lead at halftime of any game. FSU won at Miami 75-57 on Feb. 1. Jonathan Isaac scored 15 points and FSU held the Hurricanes scoreless for more than 6 1/2 minutes in the second half. Florida State shot 52 percent and went 14 for 15 from the free throw line. The Hurricanes were outscored 44-23 in the second half. Miami had won three straight vs. FSU.

Miami at Florida State Free Pick: FSU

Seminoles, who are 6-3 vs. ranked foes, finish off the perfect home season — they have looked invincible there this year.