The USC Trojans and Bronny James take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Check out our college basketball odds series for our USC Colorado prediction and pick. Find how to watch USC Colorado.

The USC Trojans are watching a bad season get worse. They were already struggling, already failing to play well. Then they watched players get hurt on Wednesday night in a home-court loss to Washington State. Boogie Ellis was bothered by hamstring problems. The team's leading scorer was not 100-percent explosive. His physical limitatios emerged. Worse than that, freshman point guard Isaiah Collier suffered a hand injury which will sideline him for the next four to six weeks. USC is 8-8 on the season and going nowhere quickly. Now the Trojans are shorthanded as they deal with the Mountain road trip to Colorado and Utah, a trip which has historically been a nightmare for them.

Colorado will be angry and motivated entering this game against USC. The Buffaloes have lost each of their last three games to fall to 2-3 in Pac-12 Conference play. The Buffs lost last week at Arizona and Arizona State. Losing at Arizona is something which will happen to every Pac-12 team. Losing at Arizona State was a missed opportunity for a good road win against an opponent with less talent than what the Buffs have with K.J. Simpson, Eddie Lampkin, Tristan da Silva, and their role players. Yet, CU let that game slip away in Tempe. That was bad enough.

Then the season took an awful turn. Far beyond losing to Arizona State, Colorado then blew a 19-point second-half lead at California. The collapse was hard to explain, but it happened. Now the Buffs have a bad loss on their resume and are hurting their NCAA Tournament chances. They can't pick up any more bad losses. Falling to a shorthanded USC team at home would qualify as one.

Here are the USC-Colorado College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: USC-Colorado Odds

USC Trojans: +9.5 (-102)

Colorado Buffaloes: -9.5 (-120)

Over: 152.5 (-110)

Under: 152.5 (-110)

How To Watch USC and Bronny James vs Colorado

Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN2

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why USC Could Cover the Spread

The Colorado Buffaloes are playing bad basketball. They have lost three games in a row. They are blowing leads. They are not playing focused basketball in second halves and in crunch-time situations. They are not playing good defense. They are underachieving and are facing a crisis of confidence. Colorado is doing so many things wrong that it is hard to trust the Buffaloes at this moment. The spread is 9.5 points, meaning that USC just has to be moderately competitive. It doesn't even have to win the game. There is some margin for error on the USC side — not in terms of actually winning the game, but in terms of covering.

Keep in mind that with Isaiah Collier injured, Bronny James will get substantial playing time. This is a chance for him to show what he can do. He might be liberated by the fact that Collier is out of the picture. He could play a great game, now that he knows he will play more minutes.

Why Colorado Could Cover the Spread

USC is a bad team, missing its starting point guard, Isaiah Collier. The Trojans have Boogie Ellis at far less than 100 percent. They are shorthanded. They are struggling. They are on the road.

Final USC-Colorado Prediction & Pick

USC is a mess. It lost by 16 at Oregon State a few weeks ago. Colorado should be able to win by at least 16. Take Colorado.

Final USC-Colorado Prediction & Pick: Colorado -9.5