Cal State Bakersfield Road Runners at Portland State Vikings NCAAB Pick – Odds

The Cal State Bakersfield Road Runners (7-4) and the Portland State Vikings (5-5) will square off in a Western Athletic Conference versus Big West Conference collision on Thursday, December 20th, 2018 with a tip-off time of 10:05 PM ET. The contest will be available for streaming on PlutoTV. These two teams have met five times dating back to 2010 with Bakersfield winning the last two meetings overall in 2015 and 2016 on their own floor. Overall, the Home Team has won all five contests. Most recently, the Road Runners defeated the Vikings 81-79 when they last met in December of 2016 in Bakersfield. No line was established in the aforementioned contest.

Cal State Bakersfield Road Runners at Portland State Vikings Overview

Cal State Bakersfield Road Runners

The Road Runners come into this contest on a four-game winning streak capped off by a 74-61 win over Cal Poly, two days ago. Cal State Bakersfield successfully covered as an eight-point favorite to increase their cover streak to three games.

Portland State Vikings

The Vikings enter into this affair on a two-game losing streak featuring a defeat to Loyola Marymount by a score of 85-58 as a two-point dog most recently on December 15th. The Vikings closed as a two-point dog against LMU. Previous to this, the Vikings were a 14.5-point pup on the road at BYU but also lost and failed to cover by a score of 85-66 against the Cougars on December 12th.

Reasons To Avoid Cal State Bakersfield

The Road Runners are 1-3 SU on the road this season. Despite this, the stock is high on this outfit due to their recent win streak and profitability. When you couple this with the fact the Road Runners were the 2017 Regular Season Champion of the WAC and Conference Champion in 2016 that earned a Men’s Tournament Bid, they seem like easy money here cast as the dog in this spot. Nevertheless, the fact the market has taken such a position causes us to take a closer look at the Vikings.

Reasons To Back Portland State

Despite a two-game skid and a .500 record, the Vikings remain 4-1 SU on their own court this season. This is a notable advantage for Portland State against an opponent with a salty road record. Furthermore, the Vikings can set the ebb and flow on their own hardwood as they are 18th in tempo according to KenPom. The speed of the game can cause the Vikings to throw the Road Runners out of sync as they are ranked 263rd in tempo by the same metric. When you add in the narrative that Portland State is the best team in the country in offensive rebounding (47.2 boards per game), Portland State’s already fast-paced attack will get even more looks which is bad news for Bakersfield.