UC Irvine (-1) at Cal Poly - 7:00pm Pacific - Game #543-544
The Anteaters are 4-4 in Big West play and still very much in contention for an all important first round bye in the postseason conference tournament. UCI is the only Big West team who has yet to lose a conference game at home and finally broke through with a road win last week, beating Long Beach State by 22. They beat Cal Poly more handily than the four point final margin suggests in earlier meeting this year. In that game Cal Poly senior guard Whiten scored a team high 22 points in 38 minutes, but Whiten has been lost for the season with a foot injury and will miss his first game tonight. Fellow starting guard Trae Clark suffered a broken nose in last game and will be forced to wear a mask for at least the next few games. Starting guard Thomas and rotation forward Higgins were two players most effected by a flu bug that hit the Mustangs this past week. The Mustangs have not been very good even when 100% healthy. They are losers of seven of their last ten games, including a loss at last place UC Riverside on Saturday. Irvine has been playing with a renewed focus after G McIntosh was inserted in to the starting lineup, giving them three key senior starters who want to finish their careers strong. The return of junior guard Harris to the team from academic suspension will add to their backcourt depth. Expect the Anteaters to take care of business with a win here. Give the small number.

Play: UC Irvine -1  0.5 UNIT  |  LOSS 56-57
Northern Colorado at Idaho State (-3.5) - 6:00pm Pacific - Game #575-576
The Bengals have played solid basketball since the start of conference play but oddsmakers are yet to catch up with them due to their abysmal play in non-conference games. Idaho State has a 6-3 record in Big Sky play that includes two road wins and two wins over front runners Northern Arizona and Weber State. They are 4-1 in conference home games and won at Northern Colorado by double digits in earlier meeting this season. Northern Colorado already has last year's leading scorer senior G Taibi reduced to a reserve role due to a lingering knee injury and last year's second leading scorer and leading rebounder C Archibeque has been out with a concussion since the fourth game of the season. Two games back they lost senior starting point guard Panagiotakopoulos to a knee injury for the year. He led the team in assists and was second in minutes played. A program that is new to D-1 to begin with cannot replace that type of production and experience easily. UNC has lost five of their last six games with their only win coming vs NAU who was playing their third consecutive road game. UNC rallied from a large double digit deficit behind a barrage of 3 pointers including one at the buzzer for a flukey win. In last game the Bears lost at lowly Sacramento State, giving the Hornets just their second win over a D-1 team all season. They will face a much tougher task tonight against a real team in a real arena. Give the points.

Play: Idaho State -3.5    0.5 UNIT  |  LOSS 66-76

Return to Record Page