Thursday night college basketball and we will see the Utah Utes travel to the Beasley Coliseum to take on the Washington State Cougars. The game has a start time of 11:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Current Vegas betting odds have the Utes listed as 13 point favorites, while the total is set at 136. 

Analysis: The Utah Utes come in off a hard fought 63-57 loss at home to the Arizona Wildcats. The Utes now trail Arizona by 2 games in the Pac-12 with a 12-4 mark, while overall they have gone 22-6 on the year. Utah has gone 28-11 ATS in their last 39 games following a S.U. loss and 44-20-1 ATS in their last 65 vs. the Pac-12. The Utes have been a good offensive team this year, ranking 63rd in scoring (72.4 ppg), 9th in shooting (48.8%), 12th in 3 point shooting (40.0%) and 153rd in FT shooting (69.5%). The defense for this team has been excellent as they come in ranked 8th in points allowed (55.8 ppg), 5th in defensive FG% (37.5%) and 31st in 3 point defense (30.7%). 

The Washington State Cougars come in having won just 3 of their last 12 games, including losing at UCLA on Sunday night. The Cougars are now just 12-16 on the year, including just 6-10 in the Pac-12 and 7-5 at home. The Cougs have gone 5-1 ATS in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a winning road record, but just 7-18-2 ATS in their last 27 Thursday games. The Cougars have been a good offensive team this year, ranking 96th in scoring (70.5 ppg), 197th in shooting (43.2%), 178th in 3 point shooting (34.2%) and 90th in FT shooting (71.4%). Defensively the Cougars have been very poor this year, ranking 345th in points allowed (76.1 ppg), 324th in defensive FG% (46.4%) and 300th in 3 point defense (36.9%).

Pick: I am going to look at the Utes in this one. The Cougars are all about offense, but lately they have been a very average offensive team, putting up just 70.8 ppg in their last 5 games. I don't see that improving here vs a Utah defense that is on fire, allowing just 54.2 ppg in their last 5 games. On the flipside we have a Washington State defense that has allowed 76.4 in their last 5 games and 76.8 ppg at home. This defense will just not come up with enough stops vs an angry Utah team that is looking to get back on track after a tough loss to Arizona over the weekend.  

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