Georgia is obviously a football school first and foremost so the basketball program doesn’t get a ton of attention, but the Dawgs are off to a 9-1 start and look to stay unbeaten at home when they host MAC school Buffalo.

UGA is a huge favorite on the NCAAB odds in Week 7.

How to Bet Buffalo at Georgia NCAA Basketball Prediction

Opening NCAAB Vegas Lines: Georgia -28 (total 149)
When: Thursday, 7 PM ET
Where: Stegeman Coliseum
TV: SEC Network
Stream: ESPN+

Why Bet on Buffalo?

Buffalo (5-5) is usually a fairly competitive MAC program. The Bulls have played a couple of other power conference schools like Georgia, losing 86-77 at Notre Dame on Nov. 11 and 87-64 at Penn State on Dec. 1. Buffalo hasn’t taken the court since a 65-55 loss at St. Bonaventure on Dec. 7 and this is the team’s only game until Dec. 29 at Temple – it is holiday break, after all.

Game Review

Against the Bonnies, Buffalo managed to cut a big deficit to 6 points with 1:45 to go, but couldn’t complete the comeback. Sophomores Ryan Sabol and Bryson Wilson led the Bulls with 14 points apiece. Wilson made two three-pointers, setting a new career high, and Sabol made three from beyond the arc. He has now made at least 3 threes in nine straight games and at least one in 16 straight games dating back to last season.

The Bulls and Bonnies were nearly identical from the floor, as the home team had 48 shots to Buffalo’s 47. A key difference was the trips to the free throw line. Buffalo knocked down all 7 free throws, but St. Bonaventure went 19-for-24 (79.2%).

George Halcovage III

“We didn’t come out offensively with the necessary plays that we needed to make in terms of starting the game. Turning the ball over a little bit, and being a little careless on the offensive end, and put ourselves in a hole down 10-0 to start the game. I’m really proud of our team’s defensive effort for the whole entire game, for the full 40 minutes. We grinded and gave ourselves a chance at the end to cut it to six with the ball and had some great looks,” Coach Halcovage III said.

Ryan Sabol

The last time Sabol failed to make a three was against Akron on Feb. 17, 2024, when he went 0-for-5. Sabol has made 99 career threes in 41 games. He is poised to become the fastest Bull in program history to reach 100 career threes, passing Zach Filzen (2009-12) who did it in 45 games. Sabol has made a conference-high 37 three-pointers on the season that ranks him 13th in the country, and his 3.70 three-pointers per game is sixth in the nation and first in the MAC.

Sabol is shooting 46.3% from deep on the season, good for 31st in college basketball and second in the MAC behind Juanse Gorosito’s 50.0% for Ball State. Sabol has scored a team-high 181 points on the season, good for the top mark in the conference. His 18.1 points per game leads the MAC and is 66th in the country.

Brayden Jackson

Jackson has scored 10+ in the last three games, including four of the last five games. With another 10-point performance at Georgia, Jackson will become the first freshman since CJ Massinburg (2015-19) to score 10+ in four consecutive games. Massinburg’s streak was eight games from Jan. 30–Feb. 23 where he scored 146 points. Tyson Dunn’s 59 total assists are in the country and first in the MAC. His 5.9 assists per game is 22nd in all college basketball.

The Bulls are 5-0 on the season when they score at least 80 points. The Bulls average 15.70 fast break points per game and 28.30 defensive rebounds per game, first and second in the MAC, respectively. Those rank 25th and 33rd in the country. Buffalo makes an average of 15.1 free throws per game, good for second in the MAC and 110th in the nation.

This marks the second year of Halcovage III at the helm. In a rebuild year, the Bulls finished their 2023-24 campaign with a 4-27 overall record and 2-18 in MAC play. UB lost seven players from last season that accounted for 1,593 of the 2,108 points (75.6%), 856 of the 1,082 rebounds (79.1%) and 65.1% of minutes played. The team returned four veterans while adding 11 newcomers.

: https://t.co/djD2xaA4nr#ALLinGRIT | #UBhornsUP

— Buffalo Men's Basketball (@UBuffaloMBB) December 18, 2024

Buffalo has the third-most international student-athletes and the second-most freshmen in Division I for the 2024-25 campaign, and it has the most Canadians of any team in Division I basketball for the 2024-25 season, with four.

Why Bet on Georgia?

Georgia (9-1) has only lost to ranked Marquette on the year, and beat a very good Grand Canyon team 73-68 on Saturday last time out to get off to the school’s best start since winning 11 of 12 games to open the 2001-02 season.

Collin Moore

GCU’s Moore hit a 3-pointer, Ray Harrison added two free throws and then stole the ball from Blue Cain and fed Jakobe Coles for a layup that made it 66-63 with 1:32 remaining. Neither team scored again until Georgia’s Asas Newell was fouled as he made a layup and hit the and-1 free throw in the closing seconds. Newell hit a tie breaking 3-pointer that gave Georgia the lead for good midway through the first half. Grand Canyon, which went in No. 5 nationally with 28 free-throw attempts per game, made 15 of 17 free throws. It was just the second time this season, the Lopes have attempted fewer than 25.

Asas Newell

The freshman Newell led Georgia with 17 points and added five rebounds. He has been named SEC Freshman of the Week twice already, the school’s first multi-time FOTW honoree since Anthony Edwards during the 2019-20 campaign. He leads the Bulldogs in both scoring (15.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg). Among league leaders, Newell ranks No. 14 in both scoring and rebounding, as well as No. 4 in field goal percentage and No. 12 in blocks (1.2 bpg).

Somto Cyril

Fellow freshman Cyril had 12 points, while graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence and sophomore guard Cain each tallied 10 points. Cyril also had a career-high five blocks while notching eight boards, sitting one shy of his career best. Georgia outscored Grand Canyon 42-28 in the paint while winning the battle of blocks at 9-3.

Mike White

“Really good team, and I thought [GCU] played really well,” head coach White said. “I thought they defended at a really high level, and we never found offensive flow. They’ll win 30 games again, and they’ll go back to the tournament. And we’ll look back on this one as a learning experience. Very much a quality win, but we’re fortunate because it could have gone the other way.”

9️⃣-1️⃣#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/pOylct3YYW

— Georgia Basketball (@UGABasketball) December 15, 2024

Since White’s arrival in Athens, the Bulldogs have ascended an average of 187.7 spots among six of the most popular computer formulas – KenPom, NET, Torvik, KPI, BPI and SOR.

The Bulldogs’ strongest attributes have been controlling the glass and protecting the rim. Entering this weekend, Georgia led the SEC in both rebound margin and blocks and nationally ranked No. 3 in boarding margin (+ 13.2 rpg) and No. 4 in rejections (6.1 bpg).

Georgia’s balanced office features five players who have led the Bulldogs offensively in one or more games this season. Three more have posted double-figure scoring outputs. UGA leads the SEC in both rebound margin and blocks and is nationally ranked No. 3 in rebound margin (+13.2 rpg) and No. 4 in rejections (6.1 bpg).

Buffalo at Georgia Last Meeting

Georgia is 2-0 all-time vs. Buffalo but they haven’t played since 1976.

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