UC Riverside at Cal Poly (-9) - 7:00pm Pacific - Game #741-742

The Mustangs have been a big surprise this year.  After suffering injuries and struggling through non-conference play, they have posted a 5-5 record in Big West play which has them in 4th place in the standings.  Their remaining games are crucial as the top four seeds get at least one BYE in the conference tournament.  Four of their five conference losses have come vs the top 3 teams in the conference, and three of those losses came by a combined 7 points (Pacific by 2, UC Irvine by 2, LBSU by 3).  Cal Poly is coming off a well played four point loss at St Mary's where they led for a good portion of the game and almost pulled off an upset as a +15 point dog.  Top freshman recruit power forward Titus Shelton missed the first 12 games of the season but has averaged 17.8 minutes per game since, adding much needed depth and toughness to the frontline.

 

UC Riverside has been bad all season but even more so recently after losing their third and fourth leading scorers.  Freshman guard Houston Powers left the team in early February and two weeks ago starting point guard Dedrick Bates was lost for the season with a knee injury.  It should be noted that UCR already had lost their #1 point guard Justin Bell to a knee injury just before the start of the season.  Bates, listed at 6 feet even, actually led the team in rebounding and had been playing very well (team best 18.2ppg over 5 game span) before the injury.  Without Bates, UCR has lost three straight conference games by an average margin of 27 points.  They were able to beat SE Missouri State last Saturday in a bracket buster game but SEMS has lost 13 straight games and is one of the very worst teams in Division 1-A.  It was still a very tight game.

 

Cal Poly has covered the spread in six of their last seven home games and in five of their last six conference games.  They are the better team and have an important first round BYE in the Big West tournament to play for.  The Mustangs won at UC Riverside by 11 earlier in the season and should have no trouble beating them by double digits again at home.  Give the points.

 

RAS Official Play:  Cal Poly -9  1 UNIT