UC-Santa Barbara vs UC San Diego 2/5/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UC-San Diego Tritons and the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos meet in college basketball action from the Thunderdome on Saturday afternoon.

The UC-San Diego Tritons will look to build on back-to-back wins after an 83-77 road win over CSU-Northridge last time out. Toni Rocak leads the Tritons in scoring and rebounding with 15.6 PPG and 7.1 RPG while Francis Nwaokone has 11 PPG with 5.5 RPG and Bryce Pope has 12.4 PPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for UCSD so far this season. Jace Roquemore leads the Tritons in assists with 3 APG this season. As a team, UC-San Diego is averaging 70.7 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field, 36.5% from three and 73.6% from the foul line while allowing 69 PPG on 45.1% shooting from the field and 29.8% from three this season.

The UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos will look to rebound from back-to-back defeats after a 53-52 loss to UC-Irvine last time out. Amadou Sow leads the Gauchos in scoring and rebounding with 15.8 PPG and 8.4 RPG while Miles Norris has 10.6 PPG with 5.1 RPG and Ajare Sanni has 10.3 PPG, 3 APG and 2.9 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UCSB so far this season. Ajay Mitchell’s dished out a team-high 4.2 APG as well this season. As a team, UC-Santa Barbara is averaging 73.2 PPG on 47.6% shooting from the field, 32.4% from three and 70.3% from the foul line while allowing 65.5 PPG on 40.9% shooting from the field and 32.9% from three this season.

UC-San Diego is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600 while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. UC-Santa Barbara is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games as a favorite and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall while the under is 3-1-1 in their last 5 games following a loss.

This sounds odd to say given UCSB’s reputation for being one of the top teams in the Big West, but the Gauchos are up against it here and simply put, I don’t know if the Gauchos can score enough to keep up with UC-San Diego here. Kind of makes me wonder why the Gauchos are even favored in this spot aside from the fact that they’re at home. Either way, I’ll side with the Tritons and the points as a gift from the books on Saturday.