Hawaii vs UC Irvine Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 2/25/23
UC Irvine Anteaters (20-9) vs. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (20-9)
February 25, 2023 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors -1 / UC Irvine Anteaters +1 ; Over/Under: 131.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The UC Irvine Anteaters and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors meet Saturday in college basketball action from Stan Sheriff Center. UC Irvine played UC San Diego in their last game on Thursday. In that one the Anteaters fell by eight points. As for Hawaii, they’re fresh off a Thursday matchup versus UC Riverside. The Warriors would go on to lose in a close outcome. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UC Irvine Anteaters
UC Irvine managed a 13-7 record across 20 games to kick off the season. The Anteaters managed a nice 7-1 run across the next eight games. The wins in that time were over CSUN, UC San Diego, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, UCSB, UC Davis and Cal Poly again.
Back on Thursday versus UC San Diego, the Anteaters were drilled 47-29 in the first half. UC Irvine hit 62 points in the second but couldn’t catch up in a 99-91 defeat. Dawson Baker was the leading team scorer on 33 points in 33 minutes.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
Over on the Rainbow Warriors’ side, they held a pretty solid 15-5 record in their first 20 outings. Hawaii went 5-3 in the next eight with wins over CSUB, Cal Poly, UC San Diego, Long Beach State and CSUB again. The losses were to UCSB, UC Davis and CSU Fullerton.
Matched up against UC Riverside on Thursday, Hawaii held the Highlanders to just 14 first-half points. The Rainbow Warriors were outscored 40-27 from there and lost 54-52 however. Bernardo da Silva was the leading scorer with 15 points and six rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably go with UC Irvine here. Probably also staying away from this one. The Anteaters saw their five-game win streak snapped in their last outing, however they’ve still been scoring well. UC Irvine has hit 70 or more points in four of the last five games. These teams last saw each other back on January 19 at Bren Events Center. UC Irvine ended up with a 76-68 win in that one following a 35-27 first half. The Anteaters are going to need to rebound quickly after their home loss to UC San Diego on Thursday, and if they can get off to a good start here I think they’ll be fine.
