Georgia vs. Wake Forest Best Bet and Prediction for 3/24 NIT Game
By Jovan Alford
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (21-13) will have at least one game this season as they advanced to the second round of the NIT and will play the Georgia Bulldogs (18-16) on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
The Demon Deacons are one of three No. 1 seeds remaining in the NIT after Villanova lost to VCU on Wednesday night. Wake Forest defeated the Appalachian State Mountaineers, 87-76 on Wednesday in front of the home fans in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, the No. 4 seed Bulldogs escaped with a two-point win earlier this week (78-76) at home against the Xavier Musketeers. The winner of UGA-Wake will advance to the quarterfinals next week and play the winner of Virginia Tech/Ohio State.
Below, we’ll break down this second-round NIT matchup and see which team will advance to the quarterfinals.
Georgia vs. Wake Forest Odds, Spread and Total
Georgia vs. Wake Forest Best Bet and Prediction
The Demon Deacons proved that having home-court advantage during this time of the year can be an x-factor. Wake Forest is 17-1 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial this season after their win over Appalachian State.
The Demon Deacons received a tremendous performance from guard Kevin Miller, who scored a game-high 31 points 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Wake Forest had four players who scored in double figures.
Wake did a great job defensively on Wednesday, holding App St. to 25.9 percent shooting from three-point range. Steve Forbes’ crew also won the battle on the boards (39-31) and went to the foul line (31 times compared to eight times for the Mountaineers).
The Demon Deacons will take on a Georgia squad that is 4-6 on the road this season but 11-3 in non-conference play. Coincidentally, one of Georgia’s non-conference wins came against Wake Forest on Nov. 10 (80-77).
The Bulldogs shot 47 percent from the field and had all five starters score in double figures, with Noah Thomasson dropping a team-high 21 points. Georgia didn’t shoot the ball well from deep (28.6 percent), forced Wake into 13 turnovers, and outscored them by 20 points (46-26).
Even though the Bulldogs are overwhelming underdogs heading into this matchup, they must feel confident knowing they already defeated Wake earlier this season.
In Georgia’s win over Xavier, Silas Demary Jr. scored a team-high 16 points, while the Bulldogs got 35 points from their bench. The Bulldogs aren’t a great team metrics-wise (105.9 ORtg – 188th in the country, 105.5 DRtg –230th in the NCAA) but are 9-4 against the spread as a road underdog.
Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons are 12-4-1 ATS as a home favorite. Wake Forest will have its hands full with the Bulldogs, and it might get tight in the second half. However, they’re the more talented team and will move on to the next round.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.