It’s not quite February, so panic mode hasn’t arrived just yet, but Nevada is badly in need of a home win Wednesday against Colorado State.

Last time they took the court at Lawlor Events Center, the Wolf Pack were 15-1, enjoying one of the most impressive seasons in the country. They lost to Boise State in a game where their offense fizzled out, and have since lost road games at San Diego State and Wyoming, the latter of which came as a nasty letdown.

Nevada (15-4 SU, 11-8 ATS) now finds itself in seventh place of an 11-team league that many undervalue. Already in free fall, a loss here would do significant damage. Fortunately, wins against Colorado State (15-3, 11-7) and this weekend at New Mexico would rescue the season and put it back on track. 

That’s easier said than done, since the Rams are ranked 27th in the latest NCAA NET Rankings, behind only San Diego State (20th) and New Mexico (24th) within the Mountain West. Right now, it would be comfortably in the bracket. 

Handicapping Colorado State vs. Nevada betting odds and props hinges on whether the Wolf Pack being at home can help remedy their recent slide, or whether they’re running into Stevens’ Rams at the worst possible time. They have a handful of quality wins, with CSU having taken down Creighton, Colorado, Washington and New Mexico.

Nevada won the Diamond Head Classic, highlighted by an upset of TCU, and has true road wins at Washington and Hawai’i, so both of these teams should have worthy resumes on Selection Sunday if the next month-plus goes well.

The Wolf Pack won last season’s meeting 80-69 in Reno en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance after being swept by Colorado State the previous season. They’ll meet again in Fort Collins on Feb. 27. Both matchups will be televised on FS1 and will go a long way in dictating whether these teams will be dancing come March.

Colorado State vs. Nevada odds: Point spread, moneyline, total

Here are the latest college basketball betting odds for the Rams vs. Wolf Pack:

Colorado State betting news: Stewart leads, but supporting cast has little room for error

Colorado State trailed “Jekyll and Hyde” UNLV over the weekend as the teams headed down the stretch, but point guard Isaiah Stevens scored or assisted on 16 of the final 20 points to help grab a late lead.

Stevens is one of the nation’s top point guards, ranking third nationally in assists (7.2 per game). He manages to keep his group poised on the road due to his steady excellence. At this level, it’s hard to find a more trustworthy point guard who can also light you up on a hot-shooting night.

He’s been reliably great, and has led the Rams to the Mountain West’s top offensive rating (16th nationally) and 81.3 points per game (42nd of 362).

After tight road losses to MWC co-leaders Boise State and Utah State, the Rams stared adversity in the face last week, playing down to Air Force’s level, requiring OT to pull away and win as a 15.5-point favorite.

Then they were down double-digits to the Runnin’ Rebels at home before Stevens and Colorado transfer Nique Clifford led them back. Both have shot the ball extremely well all season, so that was no surprise, but the team’s other top two players must continue to step up to garner success.

The Rams have a great coach in Niko Medved, who routinely churns out surprise teams and preaches ball movement, but they’re not terribly deep. The bench has been hit or miss. CSU needs Division II transfer Joel Scott to continue being a top rebounder and force down low, and he must stay out of foul trouble. 6-foot-8 Pat Cartier, another D-II import, will have to hit shots to help keep the floor spread. 

Colorado State is 2-2 in true road games, with the wins coming at Northern Colorado and Loyola Marymount, so this would become its top conquest. Ranking in the top-30 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (.376), CSU will need to knock down shots in Reno to pull off what oddsmakers would consider a slight upset.

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Nevada betting news: Blackshear, Lucas need to lead charge to avoid another loss

It’s no secret that the Wolf Pack are led by fifth-year senior guards Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas, but those two were specifically left out of players whose defense head coach Steve Alford praised in an interview with Nevada SportsNet, as he referenced what he’s seen during his team’s slide, stating “we got lit up in the backcourt.” 

Blackshear, who started his career at Florida Atlantic, is a 6-foot-6 point guard who can get wherever he wants and will have to find a way to disrupt Stevens. He and Lucas, a 6-3 shooter who originally played at Oregon State, combined to shoot 11-for-21, scoring 31 points and seven assists in last season’s 11-point win. They’re being called on to respond at both ends of the floor to make sure Nevada ends this skid.

The Aztecs and Cowboys both exploited holes in the Wolf Pack’s defense, and a huge Wyoming run led to their demise in this weekend’s upset. Rebounding has been a part of the bleeding, so early breakdowns on fundamentals will be a sign of trouble given what Alford has prioritized in preparation for this one.

His team is still surrendering just 65.5 points per game (43rd nationally) and has a solid defensive rating, so this could just be a blip and a wake-up call.

Then again, this three-game losing streak is Nevada’s longest since taking a 22-7 record into its final regular-season contest last February. It wound up losing that, its Mountain West Conference Tournament opener and then an NCAA Tournament First Four game to Arizona State.

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Colorado State vs. Nevada ATS pick

This is a game the Rams can win and they come in with momentum, but the Wolf Pack have to be feeling a sense of desperation given how close they are to letting everything they’ve accomplished to date go to waste.

They’ve denied Stevens in Reno before, and after allowing Wyoming to drain one perimeter look after another, ensuring that doesn’t happen at Lawlor is going to be a driving force. Blackshear has pro aspirations, so outplaying the conference’s top guard is a personal challenge, so we’re about to find out just what this Nevada team and its leader is all about.

There’s concern over free throw woes of late since they’ll have to make them down the stretch to cover, but the team is 23-2 over their last 25 home games and hasn’t fallen there in consecutive games since the end of a disastrous 2022 run. Alford’s team should be good enough to survive here.

Pick: Nevada