The UC Irvine Anteaters and the San Diego State Aztecs meet Saturday in college basketball action from Viejas Arena. UC Irvine is 6-3 this year. The Anteaters have lost consecutive games in their last pair, most recently versus Utah State. As for San Diego State, they’re coming off a loss to Grand Canyon that dropped the Aztecs to 7-2 overall. Let’s get into our UC Irvine vs. San Diego State prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

UC Irvine Anteaters 

The Anteaters lost to San Jose State in their opener this year, then rattled off wins over New Mexico State, USC, Occidental, Pepperdine, Toledo and Rice in the next six outings. UC Irvine would fall to Duquesne 66-62 in game eight however, hitting a tepid 40.7 percent shooting from the field with 19 turnovers. 

In their last matchup versus Utah State, UC Irvine recorded another loss. After trailing by just one point at the break, the Anteaters were outscored 37-28 from there in a 79-69 result. Leading the team in the losing effort was Justin Hohn with 21 points and two assists. 

San Diego State Aztecs 

Over on the Aztecs’ side, they lost their second game of the season to BYU but otherwise were perfect in their first eight outings. The wins in that time came versus Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Saint Mary’s, Washington (OT), California (OT), Point Loma Nazarene and UC San Diego. 

San Diego State was unable to keep their run going on Tuesday versus Grand Canyon, though. The Aztecs trailed 35-28 by the break and ended up losing 79-73 despite a better second half. Tops in scoring was Jaedon LeDee with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Darrion Trammell added 11 points off the bench as well. 

ANDREW’S FREE UC IRVINE VS SAN DIEGO STATE PREDICTION 

I’ll stick with the Aztecs I suppose. This one’s something of a coin-flip pick, though. San Diego State didn’t play their best against a tricky Grand Canyon team in their last outing, shooting a tepid 40.3 percent from the field with a 40-32 rebounding deficit. That said, the Aztecs are still scoring well with 72 or more points in all but two games this season. 

As for UC Irvine, they’ve been under 70 points in all three losses this year—and at 70 points or above in all six wins. That’s the threshold the Anteaters will be aiming for here; I think they’ve got a decent chance at hitting it but I like the Aztecs slightly better cover-wise.