San Diego State vs UC Irvine Betting Preview
Sportsmemo college basketball handicapper JM Sports gives his San Diego State vs UC Irvine betting preview coming from Viejas Arena in San Diego. The Aztecs look to bounce back from two straight losses while the Anteaters look to extend their winning streak to four games.
Check out our College Basketball Free Picks page for betting thoughts from some of the country’s top handicappers.
San Diego State vs UC Irvine Betting Odds
Tuesday, November 29 | College Basketball Betting Notes |
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Point Spread: | San Diego State Aztecs -11.5 vs UC Irvine Anteaters |
Total: | 136 Points |
Game Time: | 10:00pm ET / 7:00pm PT |
Arena: | Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA (Odds Above by DraftKings) |
TV: | Mountain West Network |
San Diego State vs UC Irvine Analysis
Top 25 in the nation is becoming a familiarity for San Diego State, which shouldn’t come as a surprise for their impressive defense.
We saw what they could do last season and they have continued the trend this year, at least in terms of efficiency on the defensive side of the ball, despite allowing more PPG than they may be accustomed to.
San Diego State definitely has not played an easy schedule to start the year, which is part of the reason that they still rank in the top 20 in defensive efficiency through KenPom, despite ranking 268th in scoring defense, allowing nearly 73 PPG.
While UC-Irvine doesn’t seem quite as difficult as the Ohio State, Arizona and Arkansas stretch that they just had, this UC-Irvine team deserves a lot of credit for what they have done up to this point in the season.
UC Irvine Better Than San Diego State On Defense?
Last year, we spent a lot of time discussing the success of San Diego State’s defense, but when we take a deeper dive into UC-Irvine’s defensive stats, they may be more impressive than San Diego State.
As I mentioned before, the Aztecs are efficient on defense, but they have allowed a decent chunk of points.
UC-Irvine on the other hand, is the exact opposite, they haven’t been the most efficient (although 53rd in KenPom’s defensive efficiency rankings isn’t something to overlook), their allowed shooting percentage is nearly unbelievable though.
UC Irvine is allowing teams to shoot a combined effective FG% of under 41%, with the average in the nation being nearly 50%! They rank 10th in D1 with that percentage and they are getting it done at both levels.
They are holding teams to just 24.3% shooting from beyond the arc (11th) and they are allowing teams to shoot just 43.3% from 2PT range (38th). When you factor it all together, UC-Irvine is allowing under 59 PPG on the season, giving them the 27th best scoring defense out of 363 D1 teams.
Aztecs Take On Top Level Competition
I mentioned that San Diego State definitely had a difficult trio of games to go through leading into this match-up. Playing Ohio State, who they did manage to beat (and covered the spread), followed by games against Arizona and Arkansas that didn’t end with such a positive result for the Aztecs.
It may not come as a complete surprise that Arizona’s explosive offense was able to put up some impressive numbers against this San Diego State defense. Yet, this is supposed to be an elite level defense and they showed against Ohio State that they could shut down a solid offensive unit.
That did not happen against Arizona, the Wildcats shot nearly 59% from the field. The Aztecs have held just 1 team under 40% shooting through 6 games, with their worst two coming in the back-to-back losses leading into this one.
What is impressive, is on the other side, UC-Irvine has only allowed 1 team this season to shoot over 40%. Irvine hasn’t played quite as difficult of a schedule, but their journey hasn’t exactly been easy to this point.
Before The Prediction – Michigan vs Virginia Betting Pick
Michigan and Virginia battle it out in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and you can get a 5% play on this game from JM Sports for only $2! Just use the link below and play alongside Jeff in both this game as well as San Diego State vs UC Irvine.
Michigan vs Virginia $2 5% Play
San Diego State vs UC Irvine Prediction
UC-Irvine has gotten to where they are at to this point by some impressive play from Bent Leuchten, Devin Tillis, and Pierre Crockrell to name a few.
Leuchten and Tillis are one of the best rebound front courts in the country, despite Tillis’ 6-6 stature. While Pierre Crockrell has become one of the leading assist men in the nation.
As for San Diego State, a lot of their prowess is built around the returning players and the continued relationships. Although, Aguek Arop is #2 in the nation shooting from inside the arc, putting in nearly 87% of his shots.
Tonight though, he and Mensah will have their hands full in the paint with Bent Leuchten. The 7 foot tall German center has nearly 30 pounds on both guys and at least 2 inches on each.
Prediction: UC Irvine +11.5
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College Basketball Stat Sheet
GoldSheet prepares a daily college basketball stat sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Check out Tuesday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s San Diego State vs UC Irvine contest.
Happy Hour Tip-Off Show
Get your daily fix of college hoops betting information with Joe Raineri and a rotating panel of handicapping guests.
The Happy Hour Tip-Off Show will broadcast Monday through Friday at 1:45pm ET / 10:45am PT. Pull up a barstool and join us as we break down tonight’s college basketball card, including possibly this San Diego State vs UC Irvine clash, from a sports betting perspective.
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Track the college basketball point spreads, moneylines, first half lines and betting percentages for all of Tuesday’s college basketball games, including this San Diego State vs UC Irvine showdown, from your desktop or phone.
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