UC Irvine vs Cal Poly Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/2/25

The UC Irvine Anteaters and the Cal Poly Mustangs meet Thursday in college basketball action from Mott Athletic Center. Here’s a UC Irvine vs Cal Poly prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UC Irvine vs Cal Poly pick. We will examine:

The UC Irvine Anteaters’ recent form and player performance

The Cal Poly Mustangs’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the UC Irvine Anteaters

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Cal Poly Mustangs

Recent betting trends in games played between UC Irvine and Cal Poly

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the UC Irvine vs Cal Poly game

UC Irvine Anteaters Betting Preview

The Anteaters stormed out of the gate this year, making their presence known with a nine-game win streak. Those victories came courtesy of Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Northern Iowa, Pepperdine, Weber State, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Towson, and Cal State Bakersfield in succession. UC Irvine has since put up a tepid 2-2 run. Those victories have come over Belmont and Cal Baptist; otherwise, it was losses to Oregon State and Duquesne.

In the Cal Baptist game on Monday, the Anteaters faced a four-point deficit going into the second half. UC Irvine woke up from there, notching a 46-34 run on the way to a 71-63 win in the end. Bent Leuchten set the pace with a double-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists. Both Devin Tillis (eight rebounds) and Justin Hohn (two assists) added 13 points. Tops off the bench was Berk Can Akin with five points and two boards.

Cal Poly Mustangs Betting Preview

Over on the Cal Poly side, they lost to San Francisco and California in their first two games. The Mustangs beat Menlo, Seattle U, and Eastern Washington in the next trio before falling to Arizona State and Saint Mary’s. Since then it’s been a 3-4 run. The wins have come over Grambling, Stanford, and Denver with losses otherwise versus UC Davis, Cal State Northridge, San Jose State, and Omaha.

In the Omaha game way back on December 21, the Mustangs were facing a five-point deficit in the locker room. Cal Poly got better in the second half on a 44-43 run, but they still took the loss 86-82. Tops in scoring was Jarred Hyder with 22 points, three rebounds, and two assists, while Owen Koonce added 20 points with five rebounds and two assists. Also in double-figures for Cal Poly was Peter Bandelj with 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists to his credit.

Why the Cal Poly Mustangs will win

• UC Irvine has lost each of its last five road day games against Conference opponents.
• Cal Poly has won four of its last five home games.
• The home team has won the first half in 14 of Cal Poly’s last 18 games.

Why the UC Irvine Anteaters will win

• Cal Poly has lost each of its last 23 day games against the Big West Conference.
• UC Irvine has won each of its last 13 Thursday games against the Big West Conference.
• UC Irvine has won the first half in eight of its last nine games against Conference opponents.

UC Irvine vs Cal Poly Prediction

I’ll stay with UC Irvine. The Anteaters have been pretty unsteady over their last four games, but they’re coming off a nice comeback win over Cal Baptist. UC Irvine shot a great 50 percent from the floor with just nine turnovers in that one, but there’s plenty to clean up. The Anteaters hit just four of their 15 attempts from 3-point range (26.7 percent) and got outmuscled on the boards 35-32. UC Irvine has hit 71 or more points in all but three of their victories so far this season, so getting to that threshold will be important here. The extra experience of getting back on the court Monday (and recovering after a slow start following a nine-day layoff) should come in handy here as well.

As for Cal Poly, they never quite found their footing against Omaha and ended up getting out-rebounded 41-32 (17-6 offensive) with 15 turnovers for 16 Mavericks points. The Mustangs have been out of action for a while (December 21) so it may take some time for them to reacclimatize themselves to the speed of NCAA play. Cal Poly has also given up 77 or more points in 10 straight games, so things look pretty promising for the Anteaters here.