USC vs Washington 2/17/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Washington Huskies and the USC Trojans meet in college basketball action from the Galen Center on Thursday night.

The Washington Huskies will look to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last four games after a 92-68 loss to Arizona last time out. Terrell Brown Jr. leads the Huskies in scoring and assists with 22.1 PPG with 4.3 APG along with 4.1 RPG as well while Emmitt Matthews Jr. has 11.2 PPG with 4.9 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Washington up to this point in the season. Jamal Bey has 8.8 PPG with 3.9 RPG and Nate Roberts has a team-high 6.6 RPG to lead the Huskies in rebounding this season. As a team, Washington is averaging 70.8 PPG on 40.6% shooting from the field, 31.3% from three and 68.4% shooting from the foul line while allowing 72.4 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three this season.

The USC Trojans will look to build on back-to-back wins after a 67-64 win over UCLA last time out. Isaiah Mobley leads USC in scoring, rebounding and assists with 14.7 PPG, 3.2 APG and 8.5 RPG while Chevez Goodwin has 11.8 PPG and 6.9 RPG. Boogie Ellis has 12.2 PPG with 2.7 APG and Drew Peterson’s got 11.6 PPG with 6.3 RPG and 3.3 APG up to this point in the season for the Trojans. Max Agbonkpolo also has 7.8 PPG and 3.6 RPG as well this season for USC. As a team, USC is averaging 73.1 PPG on 45.7% shooting from the field, 34.7% from three and 65.1% from the foul line while allowing 63.6 PPG on 37.8% shooting from the field and 31.8% from three this season.

Washington is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 Thursday games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following an ATS loss while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. USC is 2-8 ATS in their last 10 home games and 1-7 ATS in their last 8 home games against a team with a losing road record while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games following a win.

I get the case to be made for USC laying points at home, but the Trojans have been playing a lot of closer than expected games as of late. They’re winning games but not covering, simply put. Washington’s not a world-beater by any stretch, but the Huskies have been playing well as of late and have been the better cover team in the last few weeks. I’ll take my chances with Washington and the points in this one.