UC-Santa Barbara vs Pepperdine 12/3/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Pepperdine Waves (2-7) vs. UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos (3-2)
December 3, 2021 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos -9.5 / Pepperdine Waves +9.5; Over/Under: -137.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Pepperdine Waves and the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos meet in college basketball action from the Thunderdome on Friday night.
The Pepperdine Waves come into this one on the heels of a 79-66 loss to Nevada last time out. Houston Mallette leads the Waves in scoring with 12.3 PPG along with 4.7 RPG while Jan Zidek has 11.1 PPG as the only other Pepperdine player to score in double figures so far this season. Mike Mitchell Jr. has 9.2 PPG with 3.8 RPG and a team-high 4.4 APG while Jade’ Smith has 8.9 PPG with 5 RPG and Keith Fisher Jr. has 8.2 PPG with 5 RPG as well this season. As a team, Pepperdine is averaging 63.4 PPG on 40% shooting from the field, 32% from three and 76% from the foul line while allowing 73.1 PPG on 46.2% shooting from the field and 32.6% from three this season.
The UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos will be looking to bounce back after a 70-62 loss to UT-Arlington last time out. Amadou Sow leads the Gauchos in scoring and rebounding with 21.2 PPG and 7.6 RPG while Josh Pierre-Louis has 10 PPG, 3.6 APG and 6.8 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for UCSB so far this season. Miles Norris has 9.2 PPG with 6 RPG while Ajay Mitchell’s dished out a team-high 5 APG as well this season. As a team, UC-Santa Barbara is averaging 82.6 PPG on 51.4% shooting from the field, 35.5% from three and 69.1% from the foul line while allowing 63.2 PPG on 35.5% shooting from the field and 24% from three this season.
Pepperdine is 18-8-1 ATS in their last 27 games overall and 20-8-2 ATS in their last 30 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 6-0 in their last 6 games overall. UC-Santa Barbara is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 1-9 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 47-23-1 in their last 71 home games.
I get why the Gauchos would be favored at home, but I still have a bit of a bone to pick with UCSB after that loss to UT-Arlington. Pepperdine isn’t a team I’m looking to back for much of anything this season, but there’s no denying that they’ve had some decent results against some solid opposition so I’ll take my chances with the Waves and the points to keep this one within reason.
