The CSU Fullerton Titans and the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos meet Thursday in college basketball action from UCSB Events Center. CSU Fullerton is 14-8 so far this year. The Titans lost to Hawaii in their last outing. As for UC Santa Barbara, they’re 11-9 on the season and coming off a win over Cal Poly. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
CSU Fullerton hit a 14-6 run through their first 20 games this year, a stretch that included no action from December 30 to January 13. The Titans are 7-3 since then, but they’ve lost to Long Beach State and Hawaii in their last two games.
Matched up against Hawaii on Saturday, the Titans were outscored 24-30 in the first half and 31-42 from there in a 72-55 blowout loss. No CSUF player finished in double-figures, but Latrell Wrightsell put up nine points and five boards.
Over on the UC Santa Barbara side, their year started out at 7-5. The Gauchos could only play two games (both losses) fro December 30 to January 25. It’s been a 4-2 run since with wins over CSU Northridge, UC San Diego, CSUB and Cal Poly in that stretch.
On Saturday versus Cal Poly, the Gauchos hit a 33-28 advantage in the first half and were able to hang on for a 69-64 victory. Tops in scoring was Ajay Mitchell with 25 points, four rebounds and a nice 11-of-12 from the line.
UCSB is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 at home and 4-9 ATS in their last 13 overall. The Gauchos are 2-6 ATS in the last eight after an ATS loss.
Meanwhile, the Titans are 4-1 ATS in their last five Thursday games and 1-4 ATS in their last five overall. The under is 5-1 in CSUF’s last six overall.
PICK: I’m going to stay with UC Santa Barbara here. The Gauchos have bene on a nice run over this three-game win streak. They’ve hit 69 or more in each outing and have generally been playing well. These teams last met up back on January 15 in a 79-73 home win for CSU Fullerton. The Titans are coming off a couple of ugly road losses and I like UC Santa Barbara to power out the revenge cover at home in this one. Should be a fun game.