Caleb Wilfinger
Following an eventful Sweet 16 round, we are down from 64 to just 8 teams. That’s right, the Elite 8 has arrived. This has been a surprisingly straightforward tournament thus far, but the fates of any title contender can always change at a moment’s notice. That even includes the top-seeded Florida Gators, who are set to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday night in San Francisco, California. Let’s get into our Texas Tech vs Florida Same Game Parlay picks for this East Region semifinal, which tips off at 6:09 pm ET.
You can also find out our March Madness picks for EVERY game in the NCAA Tournament.
Florida -6.5 (-110)
Over 155.5 (-110)
Alijah Martin Over 1.5 made threes (-105)
Texas Tech vs Florida Same Game Parlay odds: +615
Get the best odds on our Texas Tech vs Florida Same Game Parlay picks with BetMGM, where it’s never been a better time to join! Simply click here to sign up now and you’ll receive $150 in bonus bets IMMEDIATELY if your first $10 wager is a winner!
Florida Gators -6.5 (-110)
Texas Tech is having to play against a deep and talented Florida team on a very short turnaround, with the game tipping off approximately 40 hours after the conclusion of the Red Raiders’ thrilling overtime victory over Arkansas. The Gators are not a team you want to play on this short of a turnaround, especially since they were able to stagger the minutes of their frontcourt on Thursday. That is especially important against a Texas Tech team that plays through their frontcourt duo of Darrion Williams and J.T. Toppin. With Florida being able to throw the likes of Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu at Williams and Toppin, there’s a real chance that the cumulative wear and tear of playing 35+ minutes against this frontcourt takes its toll on the top scoring options for Texas Tech. Additionally, in a game of this magnitude, I trust the exceptional guard trio of Walter Clayton Jr, Will Richard and Alijah Martin to make the right decisions down the stretch and guide their team to a win and cover.
Check out our full Texas Tech vs Florida prediction
Over 155.5 (-110)
From a game script perspective, the total going over likely correlates with the Gators covering the number. In this game, it would behoove Todd Golden’s team to dictate the flow of the game by playing at their fast pace, which is not where Texas Tech is comfortable (269th in adjusted tempo). The Gators should look to get out and run as much as possible, especially since Texas Tech is not a team that creates a ton of havoc or forces live-ball turnovers on defense (175th nationally in turnovers forced). And as we’ve seen on numerous occasions in this tournament, if the team holding the lead is able to play at their preferred pace, the trailing team (usually the underdog) will have to play a game that they are uncomfortable with. Ultimately, I’ll back the over in a game that should feature plenty of free throws and 3-point attempts.
Alijah Martin over 1.5 made threes (-105)
For the final leg of this SGP, let’s target Alijah Martin of the Gators to make at least a pair of 3s on Saturday. The veteran guard is one of the emotional leaders on this Florida team, and he’s consistently delivered in this tournament. Martin has cleared this line in each of the previous 3 games in the tournament, and I’d expect that he’ll get at least 5 attempts from beyond the arc in a game that should feature plenty of possessions if Florida is able to play at the pace it wants. Additionally, we just saw Arkansas’ guards give the Texas Tech backcourt fits; that spells trouble for the Red Raiders against a team that creates offense off dribble handoffs and ball screens better than virtually any other group in the nation. We’ll take Martin to rack up 2 more 3s on Saturday.
