SMU vs Washington State 3/20/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Washington State Cougars and the SMU Mustangs meet Sunday in NIT Second Round college basketball action from SMU Moody Coliseum. Washington State is 20-14 overall this year. The Cougars beat Santa Clara in their last outing. As for SMU, they’re sitting at 24-8 on the season and beat Nicholls in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Washington State has had a couple of rough patches this year. The team started out at a sketchy 9-7, then had a 1-6 run back in February. The Cougars were able to win four straight in March before falling to UCLA in the conference tournament. 

Washington State managed a win over Santa Clara in Tuesday’s NIT First Round. The Cougars were up 27-23 by halftime and hung on for the victory 63-50. Leading the way in scoring for Washington State was Tyrell Roberts with 23 points and seven rebounds. 

Over on the SMU side, they’ve done very well overall this year; the Mustangs have just one instance of consecutive losses on the season. SMU beat Tulsa in the conference tourney, then took a tough loss 70-63 to Memphis back on March 12. 

SMU was able to take care of Nicholls State in Wednesday’s NIT First Round matchup. The Mustangs scored 35 points in the first half on the way to a 68-58 win. Marcus Weathers (16 points; 11 rebounds) and Michael Weathers (16 points; 12 rebounds) both doubled up in the victory. 

SMU is 1-4 ATS in their last five at home and 4-14 ATS in the last 18 Sunday games. The Mustangs are 1-5 ATS in their last six overall. 

Meanwhile, the Cougars are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games and 0-4 ATS in their last four after an ATS win. Washington State is 3-0-1 ATS in their last four Sunday games. 

PICK: I’m going to stay with SMU here. We should have a pretty good matchup on our hands in this one, though. In any case, the Mustangs have been scoring pretty well lately. They’ve hit 68 or more points in four of their last five outings and done it against some tricky teams. If SMU can get off to a fast start here I think they’ll be fine. 

As for Washington State, they can score pretty well themselves when the matchup is right. I think the Cougars will hang around in this one before SMU ultimately pulls off a cover.