UC San Diego vs Long Beach State Prediction 1/16/25 College Basketball Picks

The UC San Diego Tritons and the Long Beach State Beach meet Thursday in college basketball action from the Walter Pyramid. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a UC-San Diego vs. Long Beach State prediction.

UC San Diego Recap

The UC San Diego Tritons come into this game looking to bounce back from a 60-52 loss to UC-Irvine last time out to fall to 14-3 on the year. After this game, UC San Diego will head on the road again to take on UC Riverside.

Tritons Looking To Rebound

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones leads the Tritons in scoring with 18 PPG and 5 RPG while Tyler McGhie has 17.4 PPG with 3.9 RPG. Nordin Kajic has 11.1 PPG with 5.5 RPG to lead UC-San Diego in rebounding while Hayden Gray has 10.7 PPG with 3.1 RPG and a team-high 3.1 APG and 3.7 SPG to lead the Tritons in assists and steals while rounding out the scoring in double figures for the Tritons up to this point in the year. Chris Howell also has 6.1 PPG with 3.6 RPG and 2.6 APG as well on the year. As a team, UC-San Diego is averaging 80.2 PPG on 45.7% shooting from the field, 34.5% from three, and 75.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the UC San Diego Tritons will win

• UC San Diego has won 12 of its last 13 games.
• Long Beach State has lost four of its last five games against the Big West Conference at Walter Pyramid.

Long Beach State Recap

The Long Beach State Beach come into this game looking to add on to an 84-73 win over UC Davis last time out to improve to 7-10 on the year. After this game, Long Beach State will welcome Cal State Fullerton to town.

Beach Looking To Spring Upset To Pick Up Steam

Devin Askew leads the Beach in scoring and assists with 18.6 PPG with 4.5 APG along with 4.4 RPG and 1.8 SPG while TJ Wainwright has 11.7 PPG with 2.9 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Long Beach State up to this point in the year. Kam Martin also has 8.8 PPG while Austin Johnson’s added 7.2 PPG with 5 RPG. Cam Denson has 6.1 PPG with 4.2 RPG while Derrick Michael Xzavierro has a team-high 6 RPG to lead Long Beach State on the glass so far this season. As a team, Long Beach State is averaging 67.7 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field, 35.8% from three, and 73.7% from the foul line this season.

Why the Long Beach State Beach will win

• Long Beach State has won 11 of its last 12 games at Walter Pyramid following a road win.

Total Points Facts

• Nine of UC San Diego’s last 10 road games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 141+ points.
• Seventeen of Long Beach State’s last 19 games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 138+ points.

UC San Diego vs. Long Beach State Prediction

I’m on the Tritons in this one. I think it’s very telling that Long Beach State’s been on the run they’ve been on and the Tritons are still such sizeable favorites in this game. UC San Diego is the better team by a mile and is a real threat in the Big West now that their transitional period from D-II is done and that they can make the NCAA tournament. Look for UC-San Diego to run it up as they have on most of their Big West opposition so far this season, snagging the win and cover in the process.