The NC State Wolfpack take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. Check out our college basketball odds series for our NC State Vanderbilt prediction and pick. Find how to watch NC State Vanderbilt.

The Vanderbilt Commodores have already suffered a bad loss this season. They lost to Presbyterian at home in their season opener. Presbyterian just lost to Tennessee Tech at home, so that loss is not getting better for the Commodores. It's already a big blot on their resume, and it is likely to follow them all the way to Selection Sunday unless they can do a lot of good work to remove any doubt for the selection committee. Vanderbilt has had a pattern of losing early-season home-court buy games and digging itself a hole under head coach Jerry Stackhouse. This is how the Dores have failed to make the NCAA Tournament under Stackhouse, who is doing everything he can to keep his seat hot in Nashville instead of solidifying his program. Stackhouse is known for devising clever and thoughtful offensive sets, but raw X-and-O knowledge matters little if players aren't fully ready to play and aren't developed to the extent which is necessary in order to succeed. Vanderbilt comes to Las Vegas for this Feast Week event (which also includes BYU and Arizona State) needing two wins to dramatically change the course of the season and improve the caliber of this team's overall resume. It needs a big boost right away.

NC State made progress last season under coach Kevin Keatts, making the NCAA Tournament and coming closer to the standard Wolfpack fans expect. It wasn't a smooth ride, but it had fewer of the tear-your-hair-out moments which have thwarted the Pack in previous seasons. NC State won some close games against good teams, the kinds of games which slipped away in previous years. State hopes to create another such season with more bright moments and fewer late-game lapses. Going up against Vanderbilt, State will fully expect to win in Las Vegas.

Here are the NC State-Vanderbilt College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: NC State-Vanderbilt Odds

NC State Wolfpack: -8.5 (-102)

Vanderbilt Commodores: +8.5 (-120)

Over: 142.5 (-115)

Under: 142.5 (-105)

How To Watch NC State vs Vanderbilt

Time: 10:00 pm ET / 8:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN2

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why NC State Could Cover the Spread

The Vanderbilt Commodores have not been convincing at all in the early weeks of this college basketball season. The loss to Presbyterian speaks for itself, but even when winning games, Vanderbilt has struggled versus other cupcake-level opponents. VU failed to put away South Carolina Upstate. It very narrowly defeated Central Arkansas as well. Good teams, NCAA Tournament teams, should be thrashing those kinds of opponents by 20 or more points. Vanderbilt is barely scraping by. This team has not been playing well and does not look remotely ready to go up against a mid-tier ACC team such as NC State. The Wolfpack have been playing better than Vanderbilt. Their wins over smaller schools have indeed been by large margins, the kind one would expect from a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations. There appears to be a significant gap in quality between the teams. State can certainly win this game by 10 points if not 15 or more.

Why Vanderbilt Could Cover the Spread

The Commodores know they have not made the grade early in the season. They come to Las Vegas with a chip on their shoulder and a lot to prove. Jerry Stackhouse knows he and his team have to be a lot better. They will come out firing and will make this neutral-site game uncomfortable for NC State. Also keep in mind that NC State, despite its successes last season, has to re-prove that it can win games like this. When a program does something good in one season, it isn't a guarantee it will do those same things the next season. NC State isn't doubted nearly as much now as it was 12 months ago, but the Wolfpack do have to show they can replicate results. Distrusting NC State is still a reasonable thing to do.

Final NC State-Vanderbilt Prediction & Pick

Vanderbilt is just not playing anywhere near the level it needs in order to be good. NC State wins by double digits. Take NC State here.

Final NC State-Vanderbilt Prediction & Pick: NC State -8.5