Free Pick | NCAA | Thursday | Feb. 8

Nelly’s won our NCAA 7* last night and we’ve hit nearly 62% in the NBA this season!

Play 2/3 tonight in basketball:

#843 Cal-Poly +10.5 over CS Riverside 9:00 PM CT

Cal Poly is 0-11 in conference play as they will be a popular go-against team Thursday night. Six of those losses have come by 10 or fewer points including an 83-73 loss in the Big West opener against tonight’s opponent Cal State Northridge, however. Northridge fell behind early in that game but pulled out the win thanks to 35 free throw attempts while Cal Poly shot just 12 percent from 3-point range. The Matadors started 3-0 and then 4-1 in Big West play but have now lost five of the past six games with an average margin of defeat of more than 16 points in that run. The Matadors stopped a five-game slide Saturday beating Riverside narrowly at home. Northridge is 3-2 at home in Big West play but the past two wins have come by 5 and 6 points. Northridge plays at an incredibly fast pace for Andy Newman, but this is a high-turnover offense that ranks seventh in effective field goal rate. Cal-Poly has exceptional size for a mid-major with four starters 6’8” or taller and the 2-point defense has been excellent this season. Northridge takes 3-point shots at one of the lowest rates in the nation as this should be a favorable matchup for the Cal-Poly defense. It has been a tough season for Cal Poly but this is one of the more favorable matchups of the season as the past three games have come against three of the better teams in the conference and most losses have been by respectable margins. Cal Poly has three non-conference wins vs. teams that rate stronger than Northridge and this series has been decided by 13 or fewer points in eight straight meetings with this being the largest spread in any of the past seven meetings. Northridge is 15-6 ATS this season which boosts this price but they are just 2-4 ATS in the past six conference games and including losing S/U in two of the past three home games.