Check out our free Rice vs FIU pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in Miami. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.
Rice vs FIU Pick & Preview: Saturday, February 11th Betting Odds
Owls vs Golden Panthers Matchup at a Glance
- Sport: NCAAB
- Teams: Rice Owls at FIU Golden Panthers
- Where: Miami at Ocean Bank Convocation Center
- Date: Saturday, February 11th
- Betting Odds: Rice +3.5, RICE +136 | FLINT -170 O/U 150.5
Owls Preview:
Heading into today’s matchup vs FIU, the Rice Owls will be taking the floor for the 25th time this season and have an overall record of 15-9. On the road, the Owls will be playing their 10th game of the season, having gone 5-5. So far, the Owls have been the underdog 11 times, going 4-7 straight up. Heading into today’s contest, they are the +3.5 underdogs on the spread.
Rice will be counting on another strong performance from the team’s leading scorer Quincy Olivari who is averaging 19.21 points per game for the Owls. Olivari is also important to the team’s ability to score on the perimeter. So far, he leads the team in 3-point shots made. Also key to the Owls’ offensive game plan is the play of Travis Evee who has hit 40.7% of his field goal attempts on his way to averaging 15.62 points per game.
On offense, Rice comes into the game looking to control the pace of play, as they are just 370th in possessions per game. Even with their preference to slow the game down, the Owls’ are scoring at a rate similar to the NCAA average at 74.4 points per game. So far, 42.93% of their shots have come from beyond the arc, where they have connected at a rate of 37.3%.
Golden Panthers Preview:
The FIU Golden Panthers head into today’s game in what will be their 26th game of the season, posting a record of 13-12. So far this season, FIU has played 15 games at home, sitting with a record of 11-4. At the time of this article, the oddsmakers have the Golden Panthers as the -3.5 point favorites. The Golden Panthers have been favored 8 times, going 6-2 straight up.
FIU will be counting on another strong performance from the team’s leading scorer Denver Jones who is averaging 19.61 points per game for the Golden Panthers. Jones is also important to the team’s ability to score on the perimeter. So far, he leads the team in 3-point shots made. Also key to the Golden Panthers’ offensive game plan is the play of Arturo Dean who has hit 46.6% of his field goal attempts on his way to averaging 11.72 points per game.
Offensive production has been hard to come by for FIU this season, as they are currently ranked 213th in college basketball at 70.8 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Golden Panthers’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 35.0%, placing them 180th in the NCAA.
Free Spread Prediction: Rice Owls +3.5
A key to this matchup, will be 3-point shooting. Coming into the game, both FIU and Rice are excellent 3-point shooting teams, averaing 9.62 and 9.16 made 3’s per game, respectively. In terms of the odds, we like the Rice Owls to cover as +3.5 point dogs. Look for their defense to do a good enough job closing out on the Golden Panthers’ outside shooters to make things difficult for FIU. At +3.5 we like the chances of Rice covering the spread as underdogs.
