UC San Diego vs CSU-Northridge 1/1/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Cal State-Northridge Matadors (4-7) vs. UC San Diego Tritons (7-5)
January 1, 2022 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: UC San Diego Tritons -8 ; Over/Under: 132
(Get latest betting odds)
The Cal State Northridge Matadors and the UC San Diego Tritons meet Saturday in college basketball action from RIMAC. Cal State Northridge is 4-7 so far this year and coming off a loss to Bethesda. As for UC San Diego, they played UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. In that matchup the Tritons eked out a victory. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
CSU Northridge managed to go 3-3 over their first six games with wins over Dixie State, St. Katherine and San Diego. Since then it’s been a 1-4 run for the Matadors featuring losses to Fresno State, Boise State, North Dakota State and Bethesda.
In the Bethesda matchup on December 22, the Matadors were outscored 44-35 in the first half and couldn’t come back in an eventual 82-80 loss. Leading scorer Elijah Hardy finished on 27 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Over on the UC San Diego side, they started out 4-0 before hitting a 1-4 stretch. Losses in that time came to Montana, Southern Miss, Seattle and Denver. The Tritons would then beat Caltech and fall to San Diego State.
On Thursday versus UC Santa Barbara, the Tritons kept the pace the whole way. After a 14-12 advantage in overtime, UC San Diego came away with an 85-83 win. Toni Rocak led the way on 34 points and seven boards.
The Tritons are 7-0 ATS in their last seven at home and 2-5 ATS in their last seven overall. SD State is 5-0 ATS in their last five Saturday games.
Meanwhile, CSUN is 6-1 ATS in their last seven Saturday games and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 as a favorite. The under is 5-0 in the Matadors’ last five road games.
PICK: I’m going to try Cal State Northridge, but probably staying away from this one. The Matadors had a bad first half against Bethesda in their last game and couldn’t complete the comeback. CSU Northridge has been quite spotty on the scoreboard lately as well with 56 or fewer points in four of their last six games. Still, if the Matadors get off to a good start in this one I think they’ll be okay for a cover.
As for UC San Diego, they put up an impressive win over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday thanks to a couple of great individual efforts. I like the Tritons to set the pace for most of the game here as well; should be an interesting matchup.
