UC Davis vs UC Irvine 1/5/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UC Irvine Anteaters and the UC Davis Aggies meet Thursday in college basketball action from the Pavilion. UC Irvine is currently 8-5 overall. The Anteaters beat CSU Bakersfield in their last game. As for UC Davis, they’re 7-6 on the season and coming off a loss to Hawaii. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

UC Irvine went 7-3 over their first 10 games, losing to only Pepperdine, San Diego State and Fresno State. The Anteaters are 1-2 since then with losses to Santa Clara and Harvard before a win versus CSU Bakersfield. 

In the CSU Bakersfield game, the Anteaters were down 39-33 at halftime. UC Irvine stormed back in the second on a 46-36 run and took the win 79-75. Dawson Baker was the leading scorer with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Over on the UC Davis side, they were 7-3 after 10 games as well, losing to LMU, Milwaukee and Pacific. The Aggies have since lost three straight to Eastern Washington, UCLA and Hawaii. 

Matched up against Hawaii last Thursday, the Aggies were within two points going into the second half. UC Davis posted a 49-43 deficit from there and won lost 74-66. Christian Anigwe  was tops on the team with 21 points and eight rebounds. 

PICK: I’ll probably stick with UC Irvine. Also probably staying away from this one. The Anteaters started out slow in their last game versus CSUB, but to their credit they finished strong and halted a 1-4 stretch of games. UC Irvine hasn’t been great in the record column lately, but the good news is they’ve still been scoring well in general. As for UC Davis, they’ve got a three-game losing streak going but should be competitive in this one. All things considered however I’m leaning toward UC Irvine on the cover.