South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Florida Gators Odds, March Madness Betting Pick

The East Regional Final on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York will be an all-SEC battle between the seventh-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks (25-10) and fourth-seeded Florida Gators (27-8), who are listed as small favorites.

The teams split two regular-season games, but Florida has won eight of the past 10 meetings, going 6-4 against the spread dating back to 2011, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database.

Point spread: The Gators opened as 3.5-point favorites; the total is at 132.5, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. (Line updates and matchup report)

March Madness betting pick, via OddsShark computer: 69.2-68.2 Gamecocks (College basketball picks on every game)

Why Florida can cover the spread

The Gators have won nine of their last 12 games versus conference opponents and finished second in the SEC this season with a 14-4 mark. They avenged a 57-53 loss at South Carolina by pounding the Gamecocks 81-66 in the second meeting as 7.5-point home favorites on February 21.

Florida showed a lot of resilience in fighting back multiple times in an 84-83 overtime win over the eighth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers in the Sweet 16 on Friday, and the familiarity with South Carolina should help a ton.

Why South Carolina can cover the spread

The Gamecocks certainly seem to have regained their early-season form when they were a Top 20 team. They put their most complete game of the NCAA tournament together in a 70-50 rout of the third-seeded Baylor Bears on Friday, getting off to a strong start and then cruising in the second half after trailing each of their first two games at the break.

Much like Florida, the familiarity of the opponent here should definitely benefit South Carolina, especially since Frank Martin is the better coach.

Smart betting pick

Martin has once again proved himself as an elite head coach this season, as the Gamecocks are making their first Elite Eight appearance in school history. While counterpart Mike White has also done a nice job with the Gators, they expended a lot of energy in rallying back to knock off the Badgers in OT.

The emotions of that buzzer-beating victory will catch up to them here, with South Carolina point guard Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year, being the difference in leading his team to the Final Four in a third consecutive upset performance as an underdog at sports betting sites.

March Madness betting trends

Florida is 27-3 SU and 21-8-1 ATS in its last 30 games as a favorite.

The total has gone under in 22 of South Carolina's last 30 games as an underdog.

South Carolina is 1-9 ATS in its last 10 games against its conference.

All college basketball lines and betting trends courtesy of Bleacher Report’s official odds partner, OddsShark. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line-movement updates and the OddsShark YouTube page for picks and analysis, or download the free odds tracker app.