Nelly’s | Free Pick | NCAA | Feb. 18

Big E has a huge play for Saturday with his 25* – he is 7-3-1 in his last 11 big plays 15* and higher!

Free Pick Saturday: #706 Eastern Washington -8 over Northern Colorado 4:00 PM CT

Northern Colorado enters this game off a crushing loss Thursday, leading nearly wire-to-wire including having a 10-point lead late and a win probability checking in at well over 90 percent at times in the second half. Idaho incredibly scored 28 points in the final seven minutes to stun the Bears, snapping a three-game winning streak for Northern Colorado. Only one Bears win in Big Sky play has come away from home and that was a two-point win more than a month ago. Now heading to face the conference leader, this should be a difficult situation for Northern Colorado. Eastern Washington is 14-0 in Big Sky play and owns a perfect S/U record at home. The Eagles won by only eight at Northern Colorado but there were some unique numbers in that game as Eastern Washington had only three offensive rebounds and shot 28 percent from 3-point range. This is the clear top offensive team in the Big Sky and the Eagles have outscored foes by an average of 17 points per game in going 10-0 S/U in Cheney. The success for the Eagles has come by taking care of business against lesser teams, going 9-1-1 ATS vs. losing teams this season including 5-0 ATS at home even with some elevated pricing as the clear conference leader. Turnovers are the one concern for Eastern Washington in this pairing as one of the worst Big Sky teams taking care of the ball, but that is not an area of strength for Northern Colorado and the shooting success rate numbers are overwhelming in favor of the host.  A great size edge for the Eagles is also likely to play a significant factor in reducing the season shooting rates for the Bears and the rebounding outcome from the first meeting doesn’t sync with the season numbers. This doesn’t look like a situation where Northern Colorado can rise to the challenge for a big upset coming off a devastating finish 48 hours ago.