Long Beach State vs Pepperdine Prediction 12/18/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Pepperdine (4-7) vs. Long Beach State (2-9)
December 18, 2025 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: Long Beach State ; Over/Under:
(Get latest betting odds)
The Pepperdine Waves and the Long Beach State Beach meet Thursday in college basketball action from Walter Pyramid in Long Beach. Here’s a Long Beach State vs Pepperdine prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Long Beach State vs Pepperdine pick.
Pepperdine Waves Betting Preview
The Waves opened up the year on a 3-2 run, losing to UCLA and Northern Colorado alongside wins otherwise versus Life Pacific, Lincoln University CA and New Orleans. Pepperdine would hit a losing streak versus Stephen F Austin, Fresno State, Cal State Fullerton, Abilene Christian and Vermont before finally getting another win over Cal State Bakersfield. That leaves the Waves with a 4-7 overall run across their first 11 games this year.
In the Cal State Bakersfield game last weekend, the Waves opened the game with a 33-26 edge. Pepperdine outscored the Roadrunners 37-36 in the second half for a 70-62 win in the end. Leading the scoring was Aaron Clark with 25 points, three boards and three assists. Javon Cooley added 17 points with five rebounds and Styles Phipps had 13 points with seven rebounds and four assists.
Long Beach State Beach Betting Preview
Over on the Long Beach State side, they lost their first four outings versus San Diego State, Fresno State, Pacific and Illinois State before beating Nobel. Since then it’s been a rough 1-5 run with a lone win over San Diego among losses to Montana State, Portland, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and San Jose State. Over 11 games that gives Long Beach State a 2-9 overall run so far this year.
In the San Jose State game on December 9, the Beach went into the second half with a 39-39 tie and eventually fell 89-83 in overtime. Long Beach State’s Gavin Sykes led the way on 26 points with two boards and Petar Majstorovic added 21 points with eight rebounds. Cole Farrell put up 11 points with four rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes for the Beach as well.
Why the Long Beach State Beach will win
- Pepperdine has lost each of its last seven Thursday night games against non-Conference opponents.
- Long Beach State has won each of its last four games against Pepperdine.
- Long Beach State has won the first half in three of its last four night games against the West Coast Conference.
Why the Pepperdine Waves will win
- Long Beach State has lost 19 of its last 20 night games.
- The road team has won each of Pepperdine’s last three games.
- Long Beach State has lost the first half in 21 of its last 26 games.
Long Beach State vs Pepperdine Prediction
I might take a stab on the Beach, but in reality I’m probably not touching this one. There’s not a lot to get excited about here, but it should be a competitive game at least. Long Beach State nearly toppled a middling San Jose State team on the road in their last outing, shooting 47.8 percent from the field with 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the line and a nice 33-17 rebounding edge. LBSU did have 14 turnovers though, which pretty much cost them the win. Long Beach State has three straight losses right now, but two of them have gone to overtime.
As for Pepperdine, they held the Roadrunners to just 29.8 percent shooting in their latest win. The Wave did get out-rebounded 34-29 though, and coughed up 14 turnovers. Pepperdine had failed to reach 70 points in each of their previous five games (all losses) so reaching that threshold should be a priority here.
