Fresno State San Diego State prediction, odds, pick, how to watch

The Fresno State Bulldogs take on the San Diego State Aztecs. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Fresno State San Diego State prediction and pick. Find how to watch Fresno State San Diego State.

The San Diego State Aztecs started this season a little more slowly than expected. It's true that the Aztecs lost a few key players from their national-runner up team which shocked the college basketball world last spring. However, this was still the national runner-up. Even with some key personnel losses, a lot of good players remained. San Diego State was still supposed to be a major factor in college basketball. The Aztecs didn't always play like it in the first several weeks of their season. They were taken to overtime by Washington and Cal, two teams they should be able to handle relatively easily. They lost to BYU and Grand Canyon. There were some bumps in the road for coach Brian Dutcher's team.

It was obvious and predictable that every opponent was giving its best shot when it faced the Aztecs. Naturally, SDSU became a big target when it reached the Final Four and then won its national semifinal on a buzzer-beating shot, reaching the national championship game in early April before losing to mighty Connecticut in prime time. Yet, even though the Aztecs were everyone's Super Bowl in the early weeks of this season, the team still should have been good enough to deal with the pressure. Sometimes, it wasn't.

San Diego State clearly was buckling under the stress and strain of being a team everyone wanted to beat.

That might have changed this past Friday.

San Diego State walked into Spokane and soundly defeated Gonzaga, 84-74. The Aztecs were down eight in the first half but uncorked an 18-3 run in the second half to win comfortably on the road in a battle of Western college basketball powers. This was a lot more like the team people expected to see. Reese Waters, a transfer from USC, played big for the Aztecs against the Zags, scoring 22 points on efficient 8-of-11 shooting. If Waters can continue to play like that, SDSU will remain a force this season.

Here are the Fresno State-San Diego State College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Fresno State-San Diego State Odds

Fresno State Bulldogs: +15.5 (-105)

San Diego State Aztecs: -15.5 (-115)

Over: 136.5 (-115)

Under: 136.5 (-105)

How To Watch Fresno State vs San Diego State

Time: 10:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm PT

TV: Fox Sports 1

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Fresno State Could Cover the Spread

The spread is large. Fresno State might not be an especially good team, but it has battled San Diego State and other Mountain West teams in close games in recent years. Fresno State was not an easy team to beat in Mountain West play last season. That doesn't mean FSU won most of the time, but it wasn't as though the Bulldogs were an easy out. Other teams did have more skill than Fresno State, but they had to work very hard to overcome FSU. As long as the Bulldogs play good defense, they can keep this game close enough to cover the spread against an SDSU team which has not covered the spread in a few different home games this season, notably UC Irvine a few weeks ago.

Why San Diego State Could Cover the Spread

The Aztecs look a lot better now than they did a few weeks ago. If they play in this game the way they played Gonzaga, they will win by at least 20 points, if not more.

Final Fresno State-San Diego State Prediction & Pick

The Aztecs are the better team and will win outright, but a spread pick is really hard to measure. Stay away from that one.

Final Fresno State-San Diego State Prediction & Pick: Fresno State +15.5