The Utah State Aggies and the Nevada Wolf Pack meet Friday in college basketball action from Lawlor Events Center. Utah State is sitting at 14-3 overall. The Aggies beat Wyoming in their Tuesday game. As for Nevada, they’re 14-4 on the season after a loss to San Diego State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Utah State hit a 10-2 run out of the gate this year, losing to only Weber State and SMU in those dozen games. The Aggies have since gone 4-1 with wins over Washington State, Fresno State, Air Force and Wyoming.
In the Wyoming matchup, the Aggies jumped out to a 40-26 edge at the break. Utah State kept it rolling with a 43-37 advantage in the second and won 83-63. Taylor Funk posted 22 points, and Daniel Akin doubled on 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Over on the Nevada side, they were 9-3 after 12 games, falling to Kansas State, LMU and Oregon. The Wolf Pack are 5-1 in their last six, beating Norfolk State, Boise State, Air Force, Colorado State and San Jose State.
On Tuesday matched up against San Diego State, Nevada was in trouble with a 44-27 deficit at halftime. The Wolf Pack made a game of it in the second but lost 74-65. Nick Davidson was the leading scorer on 17 points with seven boards.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Nevada. You could make a case either way here, though. The Wolf Pack didn’t play all that well versus San Diego State in their last appearance, shooting 39.7 percent with a 33-29 rebounding deficit. That said, Nevada has looked pretty good otherwise during this current 6-1 stretch; they’ve hit 67 or more points in five of those games. As for Utah State, they’ve hit 67 or more points in all but one game this season. This matchup could go a lot of different ways, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a high-scoring shootout. I’m going to stick with Nevada on the cover/win but it’ll be a great game regardless.