UCF vs Miami Odds, Picks, and Predictions (Nov. 13)

• Miami is a 2.5-point home favorite over UCF on Saturday
• Miami beat Canisius in its opener and UCF downed Robert Morris
• The matchup and odds can be found below with a prediction

Two in-state teams coming off wins in their openers square off when UCF visits Miami at 1:00 p.m. ET Saturday at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla.

UCF beat visiting Robert Morris 69-53 on Wednesday night. A night earlier, Miami got past Canisius 77-67 at home.

Miami is a small favorite in a game that will be show on ESP+

UCF vs Miami Odds

Odds as of November 12th at FanDuel.

Veteran Perry Leads UCF

It should not be surprising that Darius Perry led the way for UCF against Robert Morris with 18 points. He knocked down four three-point field goals to go with five rebounds and four assists.

GOOD KNIGHT, @dariusperry 💥 #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/mt3YrgvgSK

— UCF Men’s Hoops 🌴 (@UCF_MBB) November 11, 2021

The Knights have their nine leading scorers back from last season’s 11-12 team and the senior guard topped the team with a 14.7 average. Perry also dished 3.4 assists a game.

Junior guard Darin Greene Jr. scored 14 points on opening night, a bit above his 11.3 average of a season ago. In 25 minutes off the bench, junior forward C.J. Walker contributed 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Senior guard Brandon Mahan’s season started roughly as he made just 1 of 7 field goal attempts to finish with two points. He scored 12.3 points a game in 2020-21 when UCF won five games in a row before losing to Memphis in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

https://twitter.com/Jeff_Sharon/status/1458799296879411216

One downer for UCF on opening night was it was outrebounded 38-32 by Robert Morris. However, the Knights held the Colonials to 32.8% (20 of 61) shooting, including 17.4% (4 of 23) from three-point range.

The U’s McGusty Does It All

Miami senior guard Kameron McGusty is in his sixth season of college basketball and that experience showed in the opener against Canisius. He had his third career double-double by finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Kameron McGusty came out on 🔥 for the season opener.
Third-career double-double too 😎@KamMcgusty pic.twitter.com/0jqXkTmYO5

— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) November 11, 2021

When Miami went 10-17 in 2020-21 for its third straight losing season, McGusty scored 13.3 points a game. One bright spot for the Hurricanes last season is they beat Pittsburgh and Clemson in the ACC Tournament to become the first 13^th seed to reach the quarterfinals before losing to Georgia Tech.

McGusty’s double-double offset a poor first night of the season for sophomore guard Isaiah Wong. He scored just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting after averaging a team-high 17.1 points last season.

Wong was selected to the all-ACC preseason team.

Sophomore forward Anthony Walker scored 14 points and had three blocked shots in 23 minutes of reserve duty. Senior guard Charlie Moore finished with 13 points and senior forward Sam Waardenburg added 10.

Moore was playing his first game after transferring from DePaul and Miami is his fourth program in six years. Waardenburg sat out last season with a foot injury.

Charlie Moore: The Gunner Kiel of college hoops. pic.twitter.com/jGyeRM6s6A

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) November 11, 2021

Miami led just 50-46 at halftime but put Canisius away with a 17-4 burst to begin the second half. That upped the Hurricanes’ lead to 67-50 with 7:23 remaining.

McGusty helped Miami out-rebound the Golden Griffiths 36-25.

UCF-Miami Prediction

Miami leads the all-time series 8-2, though the teams have split the last four games.

The Hurricanes beat UCF 79-70 on the road during the 2019-20 season as McGusty had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Green scored 13 points for the Knights.

UCF figures to be a contender in the AAC and has enough experience and firepower to hang tough – and potentially beat – a Power Five team on the road.

The Pick: UCF +2.5 (-110)