College Basketball Odds: USC vs. Arizona State prediction, pick, how to watch – 1/21/2023

01/21/2023 05:04 PM

The USC Trojans take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. Check out our college basketball odds series for our USC Arizona State prediction and pick. Find out how to watch USC Arizona State. The college basketball season is heading toward the final week of January, and bubble forecasts become a little more urgent with each passing week. Teams still have time to change course in their respective seasons. They still have a reasonable amount of games left to play. It’s not as though teams have only four or five games remaining; they still have over 10 games to go, which offers space for a big run and an extended stretch of quality basketball which can change the narrative of a season. The USC Trojans aren’t yet at the point of no return, but they’re getting close. They need to start winning before it’s too late. The Trojans’ NCAA Tournament resume is a bubble resume, with not a lot of really bad losses but few really good wins. They beat Auburn, but they haven’t collected another victory of comparable quality. If they can beat Arizona State, that would be the second-best win on their profile, giving them a notable boost. Arizona State is in reasonably good shape for an NCAA bid because of emphatic wins over Michigan and Creighton plus road wins over Oregon and Colorado. Those are things USC hasn’t done, and it’s a big reason why Arizona State is well ahead of USC in pursuit of an at-large NCAA bid. Whereas USC is trying to close the gap between these teams, Arizona State is trying to nail down an NCAA bid. It would come much closer to that goal if it wins this game on its home floor in Tempe. Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the USC-Arizona State College Basketball odds. College Basketball Odds: USC-Arizona State Odds USC Trojans: +4.5 (-118) Arizona State Sun Devils: -4.5 (-104) Over: 138.5 (-110) Under: 138.5 (-110) How To Watch USC vs. Arizona State TV: ESPNU Stream: ESPN+ Time: 10:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. PT *Watch USC-Arizona State LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)* Why USC Could Cover the Spread The Trojans played poorly at Arizona on Thursday night. They were never competitive against the Wildcats. That might seem like a reason to pick against USC, not for the Trojans, but this team is unlikely to play two straight bad games. USC has shown resilience throughout the season. The Trojans lost back-to-back games twice, but on neither occasion did they back down in the second of their two losses. They lost to Wisconsin and Tennessee, two good teams, in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. They came close in each of those games versus the Badgers and Vols. When they lost back-to-back games in early January, the second loss was a game in which they led Pac-12 leader UCLA in the final half-minute. USC is a flawed team, but a tough team. The Trojans are very unlikely to get run out of the building by Arizona State. They are going to keep this game close throughout. Why Arizona State Could Cover the Spread The Sun Devils are hoping they can bounce back from a loss to UCLA on Thursday in which they led for a good portion of the game but were dominated down the stretch. That pattern — playing so-so basketball for 32 to 35 minutes but then thriving in the final five to eight minutes — is something Arizona State has done to its opponents. UCLA turned the tables on the Devils on Thursday, but on most nights, it’s ASU which surges late in games with its defensive focus and intensity. UCLA is a really good team, much better than USC. Arizona State, against a non-UCLA, non-Arizona Pac-12 opponent, is likely to own the final several minutes of this game and cover. Final USC-Arizona State Prediction & Pick Arizona State probably wins outright, but USC could keep this game close. The spread seems perfectly calibrated. The recommendation here is to pass on a pregame bet and look for a live bet. Final USC-Arizona State Prediction & Pick: Arizona State -4.5 The post College Basketball Odds: USC vs. Arizona State prediction, pick, how to watch – 1/21/2023 appeared first on ClutchPoints.