UC Riverside vs UC-Santa Barbara College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/26/21

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and the UC Riverside Highlanders meet Friday in college basketball action from UC Riverside Student Recreation Center. 

UC Santa Barbara enters this one at 16-3 so far. The Gauchos are riding a 12-game win streak, most recently taking out CSU Bakersfield. As for UC Riverside, they’re 10-6 this year. The Highlanders are 1-2 in their last three and coming off a loss to UC San Diego. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

UC Santa Barbara had a sketchy start to the season at 4-3, but they’ve had no issues getting wins in the 12 games since. They’ve beaten CSU Fullerton, UCSD, CSU Northridge, UC Davis, Hawaii and CSU Bakersfield over the course of this win streak. 

In the 63-44 win over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, the Gauchos’ Miles Norris put up 27 points with one rebound and one assist. Amadou Sow added nine points with two rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes of action in that one as well. 

Over on the UC Riverside end, they opened the year at 8-4 over their first 12 games but had to fight through a couple of pauses for cancellations and postponements. In the last four, the Highlanders have split pairs versus both UC Irvine and UC San Diego. 

In the 83-82 overtime loss to UC San Diego last weekend, UC Riverside’s Arinze Chidom posted 19 points with five boards and two assists. Zyon Pullin added 19 points as well along with six assists and three rebounds in 40 minutes on the floor. 

The Highlanders are 5-2 ATS in their last seven games after a straight-up loss and the over is 4-1 in their last five Friday games. The over is 4-0 in UC Riverside’s last four overall and the under is 15-6 in their last 21 after an ATS loss. 

Meanwhile, the Gauchos are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 overall and 5-2 ATS in their last seven after an ATS win. UC Santa Barbara is 5-1 ATS in their last six road games and 5-1 ATS in their last six Friday games. 

PICK: I’m going to take a shot on UC Riverside here. The Gauchos have been quite impressive over this winning streak, but they’ve also had a few close calls to some of the better-scoring teams. UC Riverside has hit 70 or more points in five of their last six, and I think they’ll be able to keep the pace in this one. Should be a fun game to watch.