Check out our free Long Beach State vs Cal Poly pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in San Luis Obispo. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.
Long Beach State vs Cal Poly Pick & Preview: Thursday, January 26th Betting Odds
Beach vs Mustangs Matchup at a Glance
- Sport: NCAAB
- Teams: Long Beach State Beach at Cal Poly Mustangs
- Where: San Luis Obispo at Mott Athletics Center
- Date: Thursday, January 26th
- Betting Odds: Long Beach State -4, LBST -191 | CALPOL +155 O/U 140.0
Beach Preview:
Long Beach State heads into this matchup having played 20 games and have an overall record sitting at 10-10. On the road, the Beach will be playing their 9th game of the season, having gone 3-6. This season, Long Beach State has been favored to win in 11 games, sitting with a mark of 7-4. For today’s contest, Long Beach State has a betting line set -4 points in their favor.
Important to the outcome of the game, is if Joel Murray will be able to suit up for the Beach’s. Heading into play, Murray leads the team at 15.69 points per game. So far, he has an effective field goal percentage of 44.0% while also adding 3.88 rebounds. Even if Joel Murray ends up playing, Long Beach State will be counting on Marcus Tsohonis to continue his solid play for the team. Currently, Tsohonis is the Beach’s second leading scorer at 14.25 points per game. So far, he has hit 40.9% of his field goal attempts.
On offense, Long Beach State is scoring a rate similar to the NCAA average at 73.9 points per game. This figure has come despite struggling to knock down shots from outside. Through 20 games, they have only hit 35.4% of their 3-point field goal attempts. For the season, 31.73% of their shots have come from beyond the arc.
Mustangs Preview:
Through 20 games, the Cal Poly Mustangs have an overall record of 7-13. Currently, the Mustangs have been the home team 10 times, sitting with a record of 6-4. So far, the Mustangs have been the underdog 13 times, going 2-11 straight up. Heading into today’s contest, they are the +4 underdogs on the spread.
Cal Poly’s leading scorer this season is Alimamy Koroma, who is averaging 10.75 points per contest. So far, Koroma has accounted for 17.24% of the team’s scoring. In addition, he is contributing 4.7 rebounds per game and 0.35 assists. TJ Taylor is the second leading scorer for the Mustangs, averaging 10.55 points per game. Between him and Taylor, they are accounting for 34.2% of the team’s scoring.
Offensive production has been hard to come by for Cal Poly this season, as they are currently ranked 444th in college basketball at 61.5 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Mustangs’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 29.0%, placing them 495th in the NCAA.
Free Spread Prediction: Cal Poly Mustangs +4
Our NCAA basketball betting model has identified this game as an excellent opportunity to take the Cal Poly Mustangs to cover the spread as the +4 point betting underdogs. Throughout the game, look for both Cal Poly and Long Beach State to focus on working the ball inside, as the team’s are ranked 426th and 553rd, respectively in made 3’s per game. We see this primarily benefiting the Mustangs, who have been a profitable school to bet on vs the spread at home. In Cal Poly’s last 10 games at home, they are 6-4 vs the spread. In this spot, we like the Mustangs to cover at home.
