National Notes: Big win for UGA, another cover for FSU
Published on Thursday, 2/26/15, at 12:13 a.m. Eastern.
–The most impressive win Wednesday night goes to Baylor, which went into Ames and ended a nine-game losing streak in road games against Iowa St. This is a huge resume win for the Bears, who swept the season series from the Cyclones.
–FSU is 10-1 ATS in its last 11 games after taking the cash in a 74-70 loss at Miami last night as a eight-point underdog.
Buzz Williams and the Hokies are 5-3 ATS as double-digit underdogs.
–Duke needed an extra session to get out of Blacksburg alive last night. The Blue Devils outscored the Hokies 14-9 in overtime to win a 91-86 decision. Va. Tech easily took the cash as a 15.5-point home underdog. Jhalil Okafor had 30 points and nine rebounds, while Quinn Cook chipped in with 26 points.
–Great coaching job by Buzz Williams to have the Hokies with a shot at winning outright. Buzz will have Va. Tech back in the NCAA Tournament in Year 3 of his tenure.
–Georgia got a monster win last night at ‘The Tad Pad’ in Oxford. Since dropping back-to-back home games to a pair of bottom-tier SEC teams (Auburn and South Carolina), Mark Fox’s squad has responded with back-to-back wins at Alabama and at Ole Miss. The Bulldogs led nearly the entire game and held off a late Ole Miss run to win by four. They hooked up money-line supporters with a +195 return (paid $195 on $100 wagers for UGA to win outright) and covered as 5.5-point road underdogs. A meaningless layup by Rebels’ guard Stefan Moody at the buzzer allowed Ole Miss second-half supporters to cash a fortunate winner. The bucket allowed the Rebels to lose by four when they were +5 for the game on second-half bets. (They trailed by 11 at halftime and were six-point favorites in the 2H.)
–A similar uncontested and meaningless buzzer-beating layup by Florida Devin Robinson allowed the Gators to cash second-half bets in Saturday’s loss at LSU.
–Kentucky freshman forward Trey Lyles produced 18 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time last night, sparking his team to a 74-56 win at Mississippi St. However, the ‘Cats got beaten by the hook for our purposes, failing to cover as 18-point road ‘chalk.’ They’ll take an unbeaten record into Saturday’s home game vs. Arkansas at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. If UK gets past the Hogs, it will have two games remaining: at Georgia and vs. Florida.
–Virginia got its swagger back last night by destroying Wake Forest by a 70-34 count in Winston-Salem.
–Jack Gibbs made a game-winning 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining to lift Davidson to a 60-59 win at Rhode Island. Gibbs, who finished with 17 points, has scored in double figures (despite reduced minutes) in all three games since coming back from a one-month absence triggered by a knee injury. Bob McKillop’s team is now 7-0 ATS (it beat URI as a 3.5-point ‘dog) as an underdog this season. Davidson has won six in a row both SU and ATS.
–La. Tech is unbeaten at home this year going into tonight’s key C-USA clash vs. UTEP.
–Ga. Tech has got to get rid of Brian Gregory. His inexplicable use of his final timeout with 52 seconds left trailing vs. Louisville on Monday was so unnecessary. The Yellow Jackets need to go hire Archie Miller even if the last hire from the Flyers (Gregory) was a dud.
–Florida is hoping to have Dorian Finney-Smith and Michael Frazier, the team’s top two scorers, back for Saturday’s home game vs. Tennessee.
–Ga. Southern started the season 12-1-2 ATS, but it has failed to cover the number in four of its last five games. The Eagles are five-point favorites tonight at Appalachian St.
