Mike White and the Georgia Bulldogs travel to Gainesville to take on Todd Golden’s Florida Gators in this late January SEC matchup. Below we will continue our college basketball odds series with a Georgia-Florida prediction and pick.

Mike White has turned this Georgia program around quicker than most thought. Freshman point guard Silas Demary has brought an element of physicality and aggressiveness that Georgia has not had in recent years. At 4-2, the Bulldogs find themselves in the top half of the SEC eager to continue the early success with two straight home games upcoming next week. 

Coming off of their biggest win of the season, the Gators are playing some of their best basketball under Todd Golden. Florida has only lost one home game this year, an 87-85 heartbreaker to Kentucky. Get ready for another sellout crowd in Gainesville, this one is going to be good.

Here are the college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

College Basketball Odds: Georgia-Florida Odds

Georgia: +7.5 (-102)

Moneyline: +275

Florida: -7.5 (-120)

Moneyline: -350

Over: 162 (-110)

Under: 162 (-110)

How to Watch Georgia vs. Florida

Time: 12:00 pm ET/ 9:00 am PT

TV: ESPN2

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why Georgia Will Cover The Spread/Win

First, did you know that Georgia is 5-1 against the spread in SEC play with their only loss being by 2.5 points against LSU? The Bulldogs have–rather quietly–consistently outperformed expectations. They ran into a buzzsaw last Saturday at Kentucky, but the week before they were up 11 late on Tennessee. If Dalton Knecht does not go off and do Dalton Knecht things to complete that comeback, the narrative around Georgia is completely different. 

Silas Demary is the most important player for Georgia. His ability to handle the ball offensively and guard one through three defensively has taken Georgia to another level. In the last four games, Demary is averaging just over 16 points and two steals per game. Additionally, he is second in the SEC in fouls drawn shooting nine free throws per game in the past four. A crucial piece of the Gators' rebounding attack, 7-1 Micah Handlogten has been in foul trouble in four of the six SEC games. Demary’s ability to draw contact could be the difference in equalizing Florida’s dominant rebounding.

Also, Georgia should be in a position to win the turnover battle. Florida ranks dead last in the SEC in turnovers forced while Georgia is fourth. With the Gators relying on Zyon Pullin’s ball security offensively, Georgia’s ability to force turnovers could play a factor.

Why Florida Will Cover The Spread/Win

First, Florida has been great at defending the three-ball in conference play. When looking at a team's three-point percentage defense it can be hard to get the full story. Does the team just play a lot of poor shooting teams? For Florida, they do not let you shoot the three in the first place. The Gators rank 30th nationally (1st in SEC) in opponent three-point rate. This could play a factor as Georgia tends to rely on the three-ball. The Bulldogs rank third in the SEC in three-point percentage (35.2%) which makes up over 32% of their total points. 

Secondly, besides Silas Demary, the guards on these teams have been headed in different directions. Zyon Pullin has been Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected for the Gators with the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the SEC (23-4). Pullin has zero turnovers in his last 70 minutes on the court–crazy numbers. Riley Kugel is also on his best shooting stretch of the season going 8-18 (44.4%) from three in SEC play. 

Contrarily, Justin Hill is in a three-point shooting slump going 0-4 over the past four SEC games. Hill was on fire in the first two conference games going 7-15 (46.6%) but has recently lost the touch. Also, Blue Cain is in a slump shooting 0-4 from three over the past three games. Now on the road in a sold-out O’Connell Center, give the backcourt advantage to the Gators. 

Lastly, Chris Jans was forced to play Jimmy Bell and Tolu Smith together for the first time all season in response to Florida’s size. Georgia has some size to match for sure, but they do not rebound like Florida does. The Bulldogs currently rank outside of the top 200 nationally for both offensive and defensive rebounding. 

Final Georgia-Florida Prediction & Pick

One of Micah Handlogten (7-1, 235), Tyrese Samuel (6-10, 240), or Alex Condon (6-11, 230) are going to be battling with one of Jabri Abdur-Rahim (6-8, 215), RJ Melendez (6-7, 210), or RJ Sunahara (6-8, 205) for a rebound. That makes for at least a two-inch and fifteen-pound advantage for Florida’s matchup at the four on every rebound. 

If Georgia’s supporting guards around Demary were playing with more consistency they could win this one. And who knows, they just might break out here. But with the sold-out crowd, Pullin playing lights out, the rebounding advantage, give me the Gators. 

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Final Georgia-Florida Prediction & Pick: Florida -7.5 (-120)