The Long Beach State 49ers will be at Thunderdome to take on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in a Big West matchup. The game starts at 10:00 pm ET on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
The Gauchos lost to UC Irvine 61-52 on Saturday. Eric Childress put together a strong game for the Gauchos, contributing 12 points, six assists, and five rebounds. The 49ers are coming off a 96-92 loss to Cal Poly on Saturday. Justin Bibbins had a good shooting night, leading the team with 21 points.
UC Santa Barbara, a three-point favorite, will look to capitalize at home against Long Beach State. The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is set at 142 points. The Gauchos enter the game with records of 7-9 Straight Up (SU) and 7-6 Against The Spread (ATS).
On the other side, the 49ers head into the game with records of 10-6-1 ATS and 8-11 SU. They sport the 41st-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging 77.2 points per game. Long Beach State is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, hitting 8.0 shots from three-point range per game. The 49ers are one of the top teams in the country at finding the open man with an average of 16.2 assists per game.
UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State will be facing off in their first head-to-head clash of the season. When they last met the Gauchos were winners, but Long Beach State still leads the head-to-head record over their most recent games, 6-4 SU. At 5-5, they are even ATS. UC Santa Barbara topped the 49ers in three key areas (field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers) twice over the last five matchups. Long Beach State has had the edge in all categories once.
Predictions: SU Winner – LgBch, ATS Winner – LgBch, O/U – Over
Notes
Santa Barbara is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games.
Santa Barbara is 12-6 SU in its last 18 games at home.
Santa Barbara is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games at home.
Santa Barbara is 6-15 ATS in its last 21 games when playing Long Beach State.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Santa Barbara’s last 5 games when playing Long Beach State.
Santa Barbara is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games when playing at home against Long Beach State.
The Long Beach State 49ers hold a split 2-2 SU record against Big West Conference teams, but the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have a losing 1-2 SU record in such matchups.
Long Beach State beats UC Santa Barbara in both possessions per game and points per possession. The 49ers average 70.9 possessions and 1.056 points per possession, while the Gauchos average 68.8 possessions with 1.012 points per possession.
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos average an effective field goal percentage of 49.5% this season. The Long Beach State 49ers have an abysmal record of 3-9 when opponents have an eFG% of 49.5% or greater.
On average, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos attempt 20.0 three point field goals per game and the Long Beach State 49ers attempt 22.0. In games where they attempt at least 20 threes, UC Santa Barbara is 4-5, while Long Beach State has an underachieving record of 5-9.
Long Beach State ranks 47th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.31. UC Santa Barbara is ranked lower at 127th with an A/TO of 1.14.
UC Santa Barbara records 5.4 steals per game. Long Beach State is 5-7 when giving up at least 5 steals.
