As of late Friday afternoon, FanDuel had Wake Forest (20-10 straight up, 12-17 against the spread) installed as a 6.5-point favorite for Saturday’s home game vs. Georgia Tech. The total was 141.5 points, and the Yellow Jackets were +225 on the money line.
These teams have been going in opposite directions for weeks.
Ga. Tech (16-14 SU, 14-16 ATS) has won three games in a row both SU and ATS, including an 89-74 home win over Miami, an 87-62 win vs. NC St. and a 73-67 win at Pitt as an 8.5-point road underdog. The Yellow Jackets have won seven of their last nine games, and they’re on an 8-3 ATS roll in their last 11 contests.
Damon Stoudamire’s team is 5-1 ATS with four outright victories in its last six games as an underdog. Furthermore, Ga. Tech is 3-1 SU and 4-0 ATS in its last four trips to Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston Salem, where it won a 70-69 decision as a 13.5-point road underdog on March 5 of last year.
Wake Forest has lost three of its last four games and is mired in a 0-4 ATS slide. The Demon Deacons are 3-3 SU but 1-4-1 ATS in their last six home games, with the three wins coming by six combined points.
They just took a 100-65 assbeating at Duke earlier this week that basically ended their hopes of garnering an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Ga. Tech’s Javian McCollum might be back tomorrow. McCollum, who averages 12.2 points, 3.4 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, has missed seven games in a row due to a concussion.
PREDICTIONS: I’ll go with Ga. Tech +6.5 for 1.5 units. Let’s also risk 0.5 units on the Yellow Jackets with a money-line play for a +225 payout that would bring back 1.13 units of profit.