Cal Irvine vs Long Beach State Prediction 1/30/25 College Basketball Picks

The UC Irvine Anteaters and the Long Beach State Beach meet Thursday in college basketball action from Walter Pyramid. Here’s a UC Irvine vs Long Beach State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UC Irvine vs Long Beach State pick. We will examine:

The UC Irvine Anteaters’ recent form and player performance

The Long Beach State Beach’s recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the UC Irvine Anteaters

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Long Beach State Beach

Recent betting trends in games played between UC Irvine and Long Beach State

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the UC Irvine vs Long Beach State game

UC Irvine Anteaters Betting Preview

This year UC Irvine has been a pretty steady team. They’ve got just one rough three-game stretch in the bag so far. The Anteaters opened on a winning streak over Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Northern Iowa, Pepperdine, Weber State, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Towson, and CSU Bakersfield, then hit a 1-2 run. Those losses were versus Oregon State and Duquesne, around a win over Belmont. Since then it’s been an 8-1 run with a loss to UC Riverside amid wins over Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, CSU Northridge, UC San Diego, CSU Fullerton, Cal Poly, and Hawaii for a solid 18-3 run through 21 games so far.

In the Hawaii game over the weekend, the Anteaters posted a 10-point advantage by the second half. UC Irvine kept it up from there on a 37-31 stretch and took the eventual win 71-55. Topping the scoring was Myles Che with 17 points, five assists, and two rebounds. Justin Hohn added 13 points with four rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while Devin Tillis doubled up on 11 points with 13 rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes of work.

Long Beach State Beach Betting Preview

Over on the Long Beach State side, they kicked off the year on a pretty erratic pace and haven’t been able to climb back above the .500 mark. The Beach went 1-8 in their first nine outings, falling to South Dakota State, San Francisco, Portland, Gonzaga, Fresno State, UNC Greensboro, UTEP, and San Jose State in that time. After a five-game win streak over Cal State Fullerton, Hawaii, San Diego, Pepperdine, and La Sierra, the Beach have since gone just 1-6. The losses in that time have come versus UC Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield, UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton, CSU Northridge, and Cal Poly for a 7-14 overall run so far.

Matched up against Cal Poly on Saturday, the Beach put up a 40-28 deficit in the first half. Long Beach State finished off on a 41-38 run and took the eventual loss 78-69 in the end. Devin Askew led the team with 35 points, seven rebounds, four steals, and two assists. TJ Wainwright was the only other team player in double-figures with 12 points and three boards.

UC Irvine vs Long Beach State Prediction

I’ll lean toward UC Irvine. The Anteaters are coming off a sloppy overall game versus Hawaii (14 turnovers) but didn’t play too badly otherwise. UC Irvine posted 44.3 percent shooting from the field and held the Warriors to just 31.1 percent on the other side during the victory. During this current 8-1 run, UC Irvine has posted 71 or more points in eight of nine games, so they should be able to notch a solid total against Long Beach State.

Speaking of the Beach, they’ve been giving up quite a bit on defense lately. LBSU has surrendered 73 or more points in seven straight outings, a 1-6 run. Even at home, it’ll likely be tough for the Beach to hang with the Anteaters if UC Irvine gets going on the scoreboard.