The UC Irvine Anteaters (13-6, 6-1 Big West) and Long Beach State Beach (12-7, 4-3) meet Thursday at the Walter Pyramid. Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Below, we analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s'lines around the UC Irvine vs. Long Beach State odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and best bets.
The Anteaters enter play a half-game back of UC Davis for the top overall spot in the Big West Conference. UC Irvine was on the short end of a 54-52 loss as a 2-point favorite at Davis last time out on Saturday. The 52 points marked the lowest offensive output of the season, too.
UCI has been pretty tremendous on defense, allowing just 65.7 PPG to rank 46th in the nation while limiting the opposition to 39.6% to rank 20th overall. Irvine has allowed 56 or fewer points in 3 of the past 6 games, too.
Long Beach posted a 79-71 win over Hawaii as a 3-point favorite as the Over (145.5) connected, snapping a 2-game losing streak. The Beach is still just 2-5 against the spread (ATS) in the past 6 games overall, whereas the Over is 5-0 in the past 5 games while going 8-1 in the previous 9 contests.