East Carolina Pirates vs Florida Gators Prediction, Odds and Picks

ESPN: Sad as one the key player lost two of his legs during the…..

East Carolina heads to Florida on Thursday for what is technically a neutral site game in Lakeland, but it will functionally be a Gator home game. Florida is a sneaky good squad, hanging in there with the likes of Virginia and Baylor, and they are the kind of team that is going to deliver a few upsets in conference play. ECU is hard to figure out, as they have only left home once in 10 games this season, and they got smoked by George Mason in that one. There is a sizeable talent gap between these two teams though, and I have a hard time seeing how the Pirates avoid getting blown off the floor in this one.

The real problem for ECU in this game is the pace of play. ECU is one of the slowest teams in the country, while Florida is one of the fastest. But usually when you have a slow-tempo team like ECU, they are also a defensive bully, but not in this case. The Pirates rank well outside of the top 200 in defensive efficiency. That is a problem when playing a Gator team that averages almost 84 points per game. ECU shouldn’t be able to stop Florida, and the Pirates will likely struggle to score for themselves. The Pirates should be totally outgunned in this one, as it is just a bad matchup for their style of play. I like Florida to win comfortably.