College Basketball Betting – Louisville Cardinals at Florida State Seminoles

• FSU opened at -2, moved to -2.5 at Bookmaker by Monday morning

• Two of the best teams in one of the toughest basketball conferences in America should present oddsmakers and bettors with a challenge

• Bookmaker offering welcome bonus with a maximum of $1000

A game with first place on the line in the ACC not featuring Duke or North Carolina is a bit unusual. This hasn’t been your typical college basketball season and results over the weekend reaffirmed that. The Louisville Cardinals have won two straight following losses to Georgia Tech and Clemson to reclaim the top spot thanks to Duke’s loss at NC State. The Florida State Seminoles can take over the lead if they can replicate their effort from last month that produced a 13-point win over the Cards.

Louisville Cardinals at Florida State Seminoles

Date and Time: Monday, February 24, 2020, 7 p.m. ET

Location: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, FL

Opening College Basketball Odds: Florida State -2 (-2.5 Monday morning), O/U 140.5

Louisville at Florida State TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

Two of the best teams in one of the toughest basketball conferences in America should present oddsmakers and bettors with a challenge. For just the third game this season the Cardinals are getting points. The other two games produced an outright win at Duke and a cover loss to Kentucky in a game that went overtime. Louisville is 23-5 on the season but just 6-3 in true away games with losses in the last two. The Cards did right the ship winning their last two games by a total of 41 points. FSU also has 23 wins and one fewer victory in ACC play. The Noles are perfect at home this season going 14-0 SU and 6-8 ATS, and they enter with wins in six of their last seven games with the only setback by five points at Duke.

Louisville Cardinals

Revenge is a powerful motive and the Cardinals will certainly use that on Monday night. Ranked No. 7 at the time, Louisville was trounced in their gym 78-65 by Florida State on Jan. 4 in a game coach Chris Mack thought his guards were manhandled by the Noles. Following a pair of losses that dropped them from the top spot, the Cards rebounded with convincing wins over Syracuse and North Carolina to regain the lead. Holding onto it is going to be difficult, however.

FSU’s size gave Louisville’s backcourt fits in that last game, which is why Mack replied with his statement. He does appear to have his club ready for the challenge, though. “Our guys are well-tuned with what Florida State does on both ends of the floor. It’s just being up to the challenge to be better than them,” he said.

One player who gives the Cardinals an advantage is David Nwora, the ACC’s third-leading scorer at 18.2 points per game. He went off for 32 points against the Noles last month. When opponents know what’s coming they are sometimes powerless to stop it. Nwora is the only Louisville player averaging double figures this season. Second-leading scorer Steven Enoch, who averages 9.6 points per game, played sparingly last time out game with a bum ankle and his status is uncertain. His absence would certainly hurt Louisville’s chances.

Florida State Seminoles

A balanced offense and a stingy defense have propelled Florida State to the top of the standings. They can take over first place in the ACC with a win on Monday, which would be the Noles 22nd straight at home and third in a row over the Cards. FSU enters having won 16 of its last 18 games with the only setbacks in that span to Duke and Virginia by five points each.

As a team the Noles are shooting 45.6 percent from the field. They were much better taking down Louisville last month connecting on 55.2 percent of their shots. M.J. Walker (23) and Trent Forrest (20) each hit the 20-point mark while combining to make 75 percent of their shots. Leading scorer Devin Vassell had 14. They don’t have a go-to guy like Louisville’s Nwora, instead they have go-to guys. Four players scored between 10-12 points in Saturday’s win at NC State.

The Noles showed how good they are by overcoming a poor shooting game and a five-point halftime deficit to beat the Wolfpack 67-61. Leonard Hamilton wanted his club to be more aggressive on both sides of the floor and the strategy worked. FSU attempted 16 more free throws in the game getting to the line by attacking the rim and also playing disciplined defensively. Those were two areas that led to their big win in Louisville last month.

Bet Louisville at Florida State at BookMaker.eu

This game should be closer than the 13-point margin we saw in the first meeting. However, FSU’s bigger backcourt outplayed Louisville last time and has done so against most of its opponents this year. The Noles didn’t slow Nwora in that first game, but they didn’t let anyone else beat them. With Enoch hobbled with an ankle injury he’s not going to do it on Monday night.

College Basketball Score Prediction: Florida State 76, Louisville 71

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com