UC-Santa Barbara vs Fresno State 11/11/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Fresno State Bulldogs and the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos meet in college basketball action from the Kaiser Permanente Arena on Friday.

The Fresno State Bulldogs will be out to build on their season-opening 69-56 win over subdivision Fresno Pacific last time out. Isaih Moore led the Bulldogs with 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting with 10 rebounds for the double-double while Anthony Holland added 13 points with 5 rebounds and Donavan Yap added 12 points with a team-high 5 assists to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Fresno State in the win. Isaiah Hill also added 3 steals as well in the victory.

The UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos will try to add to a 75-59 win over subdivision San Francisco State. Cole Anderson led the Gauchos with 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting with 5 threes while Miles Norris added 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting. Ajay Mitchell added 10 points to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UC-Santa Barbara in the win while Andre Kelly added a team-high 14 rebounds and a pair of steals in the win.

Fresno State is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games against a team with a winning record and 16-37-1 ATS in their last 54 neutral site games while the under is 15-6 in their last 21 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. UC-Santa Barbara is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 Friday games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the under is 37-15 in their last 52 neutral site games.

I get the reasoning for backing either side here, but I’m looking at the Gauchos here. I just think it’s going to be a battle between two teams that rely on solid defense, but the difference in this game is that the Gauchos have the more reliable offense and I just like the direction that UCSB’s offense is headed. I think Fresno State will be fine, but Fresno State needed their defense to win a fair number of games last year and I don’t think they’ll have that luxury against UCSB. Give me the Gauchos.