Hawaii vs UC-Santa Barbara Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 1/27/23

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors meet Thursday in college basketball action from Stan Sheriff Center. UC Santa Barbara is 16-3 on the season. The Gauchos beat CSU Bakersfield in their last matchup. As for Hawaii, they’re sitting at 15-5 after a win over UC Riverside. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos

UC Santa Barbara managed to go 13-2 over their first 15 games, losing to only Northern Arizona and Duquesne along the way. After another loss to UC Riverside, the Gauchos have beaten UC Irvine, CSUN and CSUB.

Matched up against CSU Bakersfield in the Saturday game, the Gauchos stormed out to a 39-24 edge by halftime. UC Santa Barbara posted a 37-34 second-half advantage and won 76-58. Miles Norris managed 24 points in the victory. 

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

Over on the Hawaii side, they started out at 12-4 with losses to Yale, Texas A&M-Commerce, UNLV and CSUF. The Warriors have since gone 3-1 with wins over Long Beach State, CSU Northridge and UC Riverside. 

In the UC Riverside game over the weekend, the Warriors went into the second half with a 33-29 lead. Hawaii kept the pace from there and won 67-63. Leading the scoring was JoVon McClanahan with 19 points and five rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’m going to take a stab on UC Santa Barbara. You could make a case either way, though; this should be a fairly even matchup. The Gauchos are 12-1 in their last 13 games, scoring 66 or more points in nine of those outings. UC Santa Barbara does have a few scoring duds and close games in the books this year though, so if Hawaii can keep this a lower-scoring defensive matchup they could power out a home cover themselves. I like this one to be close the whole way, with UCSB eking it out. Should be a fun one to watch.