Betsided

Santa Barbara vs. UC Irvine Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Thursday, Feb. 22

By Iain MacMillan

Dec 9, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters guard Justin Hohn (2) celebrates after
Dec 9, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters guard Justin Hohn (2) celebrates after / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit

The UC Irvine Anteaters are 19-7 overall and 12-2 in the Big West, holding a slim 1.0 game lead on UC San Diego ahead of Thursday night's action.

To ensure they hold on to the top spot, they'll need to beat UC Santa Barbara, which is 7-8 in conference play. The two teams faced each other back on February 8 and UC Irvine won the game comfortably, beating the Gauchos by a final score of 76-61.

If you want to bet on tonight's rematch, be sure to take advantage of this great promotion by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you click the link below to sign up for an account, you'll receive $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 wager!

UCSB vs. UC Irvine odds, spread, and total

UCSB vs. UC Irvine betting trends

  • UC Irvine is 10-4 ATS in its last 14 games vs. UCSB
  • UCSB is 4-1 ATS in its last five road games
  • The OVER is 7-3 in UCSB's last 10 games
  • The UNDER is 12-5 in the last 17 meetings between these two teams
  • UC Irvine has won 11-straight home games

UCSB vs. UC Irvine how to watch

  • Date: Thursday, Feb. 22
  • Game time: 11p.m. EST
  • Venue: Bren Events Center
  • How to watch (TV): ESPNU
  • UCSB record: 14-11 (7-8 in Big West)
  • UC Irvine record: 19-7 (12-2 in Big West)

UCSB vs. UC Irvine key players to watch

UCSB

Ajay Mitchell: Not only is the Gauchos' guard scoring 4.7 more points per game than anyone else on the roster, but he's also leading the team in assists with 4.0 per game, while adding on 3.9 rebounds per contest. The team's success comes down to how good of a game Mitchell is having.

UC Irvine

Andre Henry: One of the things that separates this year's edition of UC Irvine is its ability to get some perimeter offense, as opposed to previous years where the only path to scoring for them was in the interior. Andre Henry plays a big role in that as he's hitting his three-point shots at a rate of 43.5%. When he gets hot from three, UC Irvine is tough to beat.

UCSB vs. UC Irvine prediction and pick

This game is a stylistic nightmare for UCSB as the Gauchos are basically a worse version of UC Irvine. Both teams play the exact same style of play, but the Anteaters do it much better. For example, both teams rank inside the top 40 in the country in two-point shot rate but the Anteaters rank seventh in opponent two-point field goal percentage while UCSB ranks 240th.

One of the issues that UC Irvine runs into at times is turning the ball over, ranking 187th in turnovers per possession, but not only does UCSB rank near the bottom in Division 1 basketball in forcing turnovers (337th), but they're also much worse at turning it over than the Anteaters.

I'll back UC Irvine to cover the double-digit spread.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

You can check out all of Iain's bets here!

Home/College Basketball Predictions and Picks