The Dayton Flyers take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Dayton Virginia Tech prediction and pick.

Virginia Tech enters this season with a target on its back. The Hokies are the defending ACC Tournament champions, led by coach Mike Young. The Hokies are 8-1, having stumbled against Charleston but then beating Penn State and Minnesota before fending off North Carolina this past Sunday in their ACC opener. That win over North Carolina could give this team real forward momentum. Beating the team which reached last season's national championship game should give the Hokies confidence that they can compete with the nation's best. However, it also has to be said that North Carolina is not a particularly good team right now. The Tar Heels are in the midst of the same slump they experienced in the early stages of last season. It wasn't until the middle of February in 2022 that North Carolina really began to learn how to play together. That's when the light went on for those players. Beating UNC in early December, though obviously valuable and naturally far better than a loss, might not prove as much about Virginia Tech as the Hokies might personally hope. They have to realize they defeated a struggling team and cannot allow themselves to think they are an upper-tier team themselves. They have to do a lot more work and gain a lot more wins to earn that status.

The Dayton Flyers have had a very rough start to their season under head coach Anthony Grant. Dayton is 5-4 through nine games, having lost to the four toughest teams on its schedule. The best win for Dayton is over SMU, and this past weekend, SMU lost at home to previously winless Jackson State.

That's Dayton's best win? Ouch.

The Flyers blew a big lead to BYU over Thanksgiving weekend. This is the same BYU team which lost to South Dakota at home this past weekend and is having a brutal season in its own right. Dayton also lost by one point to Wisconsin in a 43-42 bare-knuckle rockfight. The Flyers also fell to UNLV and North Carolina State.

The problem for the Flyers is obvious: They just can't score. Dayton was held to 42 by Wisconsin, 52 by UNLV, and 64 by North Carolina State. Even a win over Robert Morris involved minimal offensive production: 60 points. The margins are small for any team which can't find instant offense and avoid noticeably long scoring droughts. The effort is there with Dayton, but this team just doesn't make timely plays; more specifically, it doesn't get timely baskets, and that's a crusher when the margins are so small and the Flyers — on most occasions (the BYU game being the exception) — don't have a working margin on the scoreboard midway through the second halves of games against tough opponents.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Dayton-Virginia Tech College Basketball odds.

College Basketball Odds: Dayton-Virginia Tech Odds

Dayton Flyers: +7.5 (-118)

Virginia Tech Hokies: -7.5 (-104)

Over: 126.5 (-110)

Under: 126.5 (-110)

Why Dayton Could Cover the Spread

This team is not short on hustle. The Flyers put in the work; they just haven't been shooting well. As soon as a few shots drop, this team should be better, and it is certainly good enough to create a close 40-minute game against a Virginia Tech team which is not fully proven or airtight.

Why Virginia Tech Could Cover the Spread

The Hokies were consistently better than North Carolina throughout Sunday's game. The Hokies are staying at home for this game and know that Dayton is fatally flawed on offense. Virginia Tech should be able to make the effort plays which negate Dayton's work ethic and can put the Hokies in position to win with better shooters and superior offensive playmakers.

Final Dayton-Virginia Tech Prediction & Pick

Dayton is just a subpar offensive team. Virginia Tech is not, and the Hokies play respectable defense. Virginia Tech by 10.

Final Dayton-Virginia Tech Prediction & Pick: Virginia Tech -7.5