Montana State at Northern Colorado odds, picks and prediction

Previewing Thursday’s Montana State at Northern Colorado sports betting odds and lines, with college basketball betting picks, tips and predictions.

The Montana State Bobcats (3-3 overall, 0-0 Big Sky) visit the Northern Colorado Bears (5-4, 2-2) in a Thursday evening (8:30 p.m. ET) Big Sky tussle at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colo. Below, we analyze the Montana State-Northern Colorado college basketball betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.

Montana State at Northern Colorado: Betting odds, spread and lines

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 12:30 p.m. ET.

  • Money line: Montana State +155 (bet $100 to win $155) | Northern Colorado -190 (bet $190 to win $100)
  • Against the spread/ATS: Montana State +4.5 (-115) | Northern Colorado -4.5 (-105)
  • Over/Under: 137.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)

Montana State at Northern Colorado: Three things to know

  1. Thursday’s contest is slated to be the first of two in three days between the Bobcats and Bears. The Big Sky’s COVID-adjusted schedule calls for college hockey style, two-game trips. Northern Colorado is coming off a two-game series at Montana. MSU is playing in its first conference set with these two at Northern Colorado.
  2. The Bears have had some shooting woes in going 2-3 over their last five games. Over that stretch, Northern Colorado has shot just 42.9% from the field. For the season, the Bears rank 228th in the nation in effective field-goal percentage (47.5%).
  3. Montana State hasn’t had a straight-up win over an NCAA-I foe since Nov. 25 (91-78 at UNLV). A year ago, the Bobcats went 5-10 on the road. That record included a 68-59 loss at Northern Colorado Jan. 2, 2020. In what was a 4-to-8-point game for much of the second half, MSU finished as a minus-7 in turnover margin and the Bobcats registered just one offensive rebound.

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Montana State at Northern Colorado: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks

Prediction

Montana State 69, Northern Colorado 68

Money line (ML)

Consider MONTANA STATE +155 as an undercard, or partial-unit sidecar bet, alongside a wager with the points.

Against the spread (ATS)

The Bears are 1-5 ATS in their last six home games. Over the last five games in this Big Sky series, the road team is 4-1 ATS.

And that’s the significant lean here: TAKE THE BOBCATS +4.5 (-115). A shay UNC offense is worthy of being faded. Montana State is near the same level talent-wise as Montana that just played back-to-back two-point games against the Bears.

Over/Under (O/U)

Too much small-sample gray area here. Tag this one with a slight lean on the UNDER (137.5, -110), but there isn’t enough data or value to leverage.

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