Two of the hottest teams in the Mountain West will try to lock up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament tonight when Boise State hosts Colorado State.
Boise State (22-8, 14-5 MWC) has won nine of its past 10 games, including victories over Mountain West leader New Mexico and Utah State, which looked like it was going to run away with the regular-season title about a month ago.
Boise State can lock up the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Tournament with a win tonight. A loss likely drops them to the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, which means they would probably need to win three games in three days to ensure a fourth-straight berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Broncos were the preseason pick to win the conference title, but they got off to a slow start in league play. They dropped to 5-4 in the Mountain West after their 75-72 loss at Colorado State on Jan. 22, but they enter their regular-season finale tonight on a five-game winning streak.
Colorado State (21-9, 15-4 MWC) also has a chance to lock up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with a win tonight. A loss likely drops them to No. 4.
Some early slip-ups left the Rams with little room for error in conference play if they were going to earn a second-straight NCAA Tournament bid. They’ve won six games in a row heading into tonight’s showdown in Boise, Idaho, including a 93-66 win over Utah State. That’s the most points Utah State has given up in a game this season.
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Colorado State at Boise State Odds
Boise State is a 6.5-point college basketball betting odds favorite on BetMGM, and the Over/Under is at 141.5 points.
The Moneyline is at -275 for Boise State and at +220 for Colorado State.
Colorado State at Boise State on TV
The Mountain West game featuring Colorado State and Boise State will be televised on FS1.
Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.
Colorado State at Boise State Prediction
I predict Boise State wins, 68-64.
Colorado State’s win over the Broncos in January featured one of the craziest endings of the year. Boise State rallied from 17 points down and took a two-point lead with a little more than a minute left to play, but Colorado State’s Jalen Lake hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to lift the Rams to a 75-72 win.
Two of the best players in the Mountain West dominated the game. Colorado State’s Nique Clifford scored a team-high 20 points, collected seven rebounds, and added seven assists. He was averaging a double-double this season until recently, but he’s still putting up 17.8 points and 9.9 rebounds a game. Clifford also leads the Rams with 132 assists.
Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart scored 27 points in the Broncos’ loss to the Rams. He tallied 11 straight points during a crucial run down the stretch and finished the game 10-of-17 from the floor.
Degenhart, who was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2022, is just 47 points shy of becoming Boise State’s all-time leading scorer. He ranks No. 2 in the conference with 17.9 points a game this season, and he’ll get some help from veteran point guard Alvaro Cardenas to lift the Broncos to a potentially NCAA bid-sealing win tonight.
Cardenas, who joined the Broncos this year after four years at San Jose State, leads the conference with 205 assists. He is the ninth player in Mountain West history to rack up more than 200 in a season.
