Free Pick | Thursday | NCAA | Feb. 15

Nelly’s is on a 15-8 basketball run the past 11 days – we’ve won back-to-back 7* top plays as well!

#810 San Diego -6.5 over Portland 9:00 PM CT

San Diego started 0-5 in WCC play but has now won five of the last six including beating Santa Clara as this is a Toreros team playing better than the record suggests. San Diego beat Portland 85-81 on the road in January, finishing the game on a 73-55 run after a slow start in the first 10 minutes. Steve Lavin’s team has faced the #1 WCC schedule so far, as they have already had five games against the top three teams. San Diego is 10-5 S/U at home and Portland is 2-9 S/U on the road and in the five WCC road losses the Pilots have lost by an average of nearly 29 points per game. Portland has just one top 200 win all season, and it was the season opener on Nov. 6. San Diego isn’t quite a top 200 rated squad, but they are getting close, and the recent form has been in that category. Portland has some of the worst defensive numbers in the nation with an effective field goal rate against of nearly 56 percent and with both teams being up-tempo, San Diego’s edges could be enhanced. San Diego is the 2nd best 3-point shooting team in the WCC while Portland ranks last in 3-point defense in the conference. Portland is just 3-7 ATS in the past 10 games and San Diego should be a threat to sweep this series with an even more convincing margin in the second meeting.