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It's time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a UNLV-Fresno State prediction and pick. Find out how to watch UNLV Fresno State.
There is a lot of Mountain West basketball to keep track of on Saturday. This game is not the biggest item on the board, but it is still a very interesting case study for bettors who want to see if there's a good angle to be found here.
UNLV had that brief little flurry of quality a few weeks ago in which it defeated Utah State and San Diego State back-to-back. It seemed for a short period of time that the Rebels were beginning to put the pieces together under head coach Kevin Kruger. They were on the verge of making a real run in the Mountain West, a surge which could have propelled them to the NCAA Tournament. However, the fun ended before it even had a chance to breathe. UNLV promptly lost home games to Wyoming and New Mexico, and that was pretty much it for the Rebels' at-large NCAA Tournament hopes. The only way the Rebels can snap their extended streak of missing the NCAAs is if they win the Mountain West Tournament next month. The UNLV program continues its drift through irrelevance, a point which is enormously frustrating for a fan base which still remembers Jerry Tarkanian but is increasingly distant from the program's golden era. More and more UNLV fans aren't old enough to remember. Some still are; the past isn't that distant just yet. However, if UNLV is to go 10 more years without any real achievements of note, we will get to a point where hardly any Rebel fans remember what it used to be like, when Tark the Shark ruled college basketball.
Standing against UNLV is a Fresno State team which is better than Air Force but no one else in the Mountain West. The Bulldogs are limping to the end of their season. This game will tell us how much fight the Bulldogs have in them.
Here are the UNLV-Fresno State College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: UNLV-Fresno State Odds
UNLV: -8.5 (-118)
Moneyline: -410
Fresno State: +8.5 (-104)
Moneyline: +315
Over: 148.5 (-115)
Under: 148.5 (-105)
How to Watch UNLV vs Fresno State
Time: 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
TV: Mountain West Network
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why UNLV Will Cover The Spread/Win
UNLV is not a good team and is not going to make the NCAA Tournament. However, the Rebels are continuing to play hard for their coach. They could just mail it in and stop trying, but no, they are still getting after it. They aren't playing smart basketball. They aren't playing polished or precise basketball. They are, however, playing hard and with intensity. They held Wyoming to 57 points on the road one week ago in an 11-point win over a mediocre opponent. If that is the level of defense UNLV can bring to this road game in Fresno, the Rebels should be able to cover the spread.
Why Fresno State Will Cover The Spread/Win
Why is a mediocre UNLV side giving 8.5 points on the road to any team not named Air Force? We get it when Air Force is a large home underdog, but should Fresno State be lumped into the same category? Should the Bulldogs be this big an underdog against a UNLV team which, as we have pointed out, is not an NCAA Tournament-quality side? Should anyone trust UNLV to make easy work of this game away from home? Fresno State might not be good, but the Bulldogs have forced opponents to earn wins against them. In their last five games, the Bulldogs have lost twice in overtime, and they lost to Utah State — the second-place team in the Mountain West with a 12-2 league record — by eight points. Should FSU really be an 8.5-point dog at home versus UNLV? The number should be 6.5, not 8.5. You're getting value with the Bulldogs here.
Final UNLV-Fresno State Prediction & Pick
We are leaning to Fresno State but don't trust the Bulldogs, given that they're 1-13 in Mountain West play. Just pass on this one and move along.
Final UNLV-Fresno State Prediction & Pick: Fresno State +8.5
