UC Riverside vs Long Beach State Prediction 1/15/2026 Today’s College Basketball Picks

The UC Riverside Highlanders and the Long Beach State Beach meet Thursday in college basketball action from Walter Pyramid. Here’s a UC Riverside vs Long Beach State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UC Riverside vs Long Beach State pick. We will examine the recent form and player performances for both teams, as well as the recent betting trends and streaks pertaining to this matchup. As we conclude, we will tie it all together with a summary that produces a sensible pick for a favorable betting outcome in this game.

UC Riverside Highlanders Betting Preview

The Highlanders posted a .500 run across their first 12 games of the year. The losses in that stretch were versus UC Riverside, New Mexico, North Dakota, Cal Baptist, Utah Tech, UC Irvine and BYU. Since then it’s been five straight losses to St. Thomas-MN, UCLA, Hawaii, Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego. That gives the Highlanders a 6-11 run across their first 17 games so far.

In the UC San Diego matchup on Saturday the Highlanders entered the second half sporting a 32-26 advantage. UC Riverside was outpaced 43-34 the rest of the way however, leading to a 69-66 loss in the end. The Highlanders were led by Andrew Henderson with 27 points, two rebounds and two assists, while Tyler Jones added 17 points with four rebounds and two assists.

Long Beach State Beach Betting Preview

Over on the Long Beach State side, they limped to a rough 2-9 record in their first 11 games this year. The only wins the Beach could muster during that time came courtesy of Nobel and San Diego. Long Beach State has looked better on a  4-2 run since then though, taking out Pepperdine, Lincoln University CA, Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield. That makes for a 6-11 record so far this season.

In the Cal State Bakersfield matchup last Saturday, the Beach were in the locker room looking up at a 42-36 advantage. Long Beach State kept the pace from there on a 39-39 run and took the victory 81-75 in the end. Petar Majstorovic put up 23 points with three rebounds and two assists, while Gavin Sykes added 22 points with four rebounds. Rob Diaz had 20 points iwht nine assists and six rebounds as well.

UC Riverside Highlanders @ Long Beach State Beach Betting Trends: January 15, 2026

Why the Long Beach State Beach will win

• The home team has won 10 of Long Beach State’s last 11 games.
• UC Riverside has lost each of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the UC Riverside Highlanders will win

• Long Beach State has lost each of its last 11 Thursday games against the Big West Conference.
• UC Riverside has won the first half in three of its last four games against Conference opponents.

UC Riverside vs Long Beach State Prediction

I’ll stay with the Beach I suppose. Probably not touching this one, though. Long Beach State powered out a nice home win over a middling CSU Bakersfield team last weekend, posting 49.1 percent shooting from the field, a 32-30 rebounding advantage and 10 steals. LBSU got a little overzealous with the turnovers (15) but the Roadrunners had 14 of their own. It’s been a rocky season for the Beach so far but they’re 3-1 in their last four games with 74 or more points scored in each win.

As for UC Riverside, they shot just 36.8 percent from the field with a 40-18 deficit on points in the paint and 50 percent shooting given up on defense in their loss to UC San Diego. Still, the Highlanders only lost by three. UC Riverside has lost five straight games now, scoring fewer than 67 points in each of the last four.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Long Beach State Beach -5.5