With less than two months remaining until March Madness, the UNLV Rebels and the Colorado State Rams will go head-to-head in a Mountain West showdown will conference implications on the line. Let's take an exclusive sneak peek at our college basketball odds series where our UNLV-Colorado State prediction and pick will be revealed.
Coming into this one with back-to-back wins over quality opponents, the Rebels sit with a 14-7 record that includes a 3-6 mark in conference play. Without a doubt, UNLV's mini two-game winning streak has been critical in moving up the conference standings with hopes of making a run at the conference crown come March.
As for the Colorado State Rams, they enter play fresh off of a 21-point blowout loss to Boise State and now find themselves in panic mode with a 2-7 record in conference play and a 10-12 record overall. After going dancing a season ago, it clearly has not been the type of season that the Rams had hoped for prior to the season tipping-off.
Here are the UNLV-Colorado State college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: UNLV-Colorado State Odds
UNLV: +2.5 (-102)
Colorado State: -2.5 (-120)
Over: 142.5 (-114)
Under: 142.5 (-106)
How To Watch UNLV vs. Colorado State
TV: CBS Sports
Stream: CBS Sports APp
Time: 9:00 ET/ 6:00 PT
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why UNLV Could Cover The Spread
While slow and steady may win the race, the amount of time remaining in the full-on sprint to the conclusion of the regular season is starting to wear thin for teams like UNLV. With only nine games remaining on the scheduled slate, the Rebels must find a way to reach the 20-win mark in order to have any chance to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Alas, UNLV just needs to take things one game at a time in order to see their postseason dreams come true.
In order to cover the spread against the Rams in tonight's bout, the Rebels must find a way to force turnovers and attack CSU with a ferocious defensive presence. On paper, UNLV only gives up 68 points per game and is also averaging just a shade under ten steals per contest as well. Without a doubt, UNLV strives themselves on locking down their opponents on the defensive end of court and certainly don't mind in slowing down tempo to create havoc.
Not to mention, but the Rebels also rarely turn the ball over themselves and often end up accumulating a good amount of assists when possessed with the basketball on offense. While UNLV isn't a well-oiled machine by any means when it comes to scoring the basketball and putting up a plethora of points, keep an eye out for transfer E.J. Harkless to enforce his will on the scoring end of things. Playing the last couple years of ball at Oklahoma, Harkless is averaging 17.0 PPG during his first year in Vegas and is clearly the go-to man whenever the Rebels need a bucket. If the Rebels can avoid shooting woefully over a prolonged stretch and play sound defense, then the chances of them covering will most likely be lofty.
Why Colorado State Could Cover The Spread
On the other sides of things, Colorado State has been vastly disappointing this season and are looking for any positives to take away in order to catapult them in the right direction prior to conference tournament play. With a little over a month remaining in the regular season, there is no time to waste for the Rams to get back on track.
Above all else, CSU's recipe for success and eventually covering the spread in this one will fall on the shoulders of a front court that needs to show up in a big way in order to cover. Alas, the Rams often struggle in corralling rebounds and give up second chances far too frequently in what has ended up hurting them this season. On paper, the Rams rank as the 354th best rebounding team in all of the nation as there are only roughly around ten teams in the entire nation that have been worse when it comes to this statistic. If CSU has a major flaw, it is certainly this one.
Nevertheless, the one area of play where CSU could inflict some damage upon UNLV's defensive effort is in the assists game. Dishing out around 17 assists per game, the Rams average the 12th-most assists per game in America and are quite willing in making the extra pass to come up with high-percentage looks.
In addition, CSU may boast the top player on the floor in point guard Isaiah Stevens, who was one of the main catalysts in why the Rams were able to clinch a berth to March Madness last season. Although he is only played 15 games this season after returning from a nagging injury, Stevens leads the team with 18.4 PPG and has an NBA skill set that few are able to replicate.
Final UNLV-Colorado State Prediction & Pick
As important as it is to possess a home-court advantage in the world of college basketball, it is difficult to trust the Rams in any sense with how poorly they've played this season and their inability to receive second-chance points on the glass.
Final UNLV-Colorado State Prediction & Pick: UNLV +2.5 (-102)
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