Loyola Marymount vs UC Santa Barbara Odds and Picks
- UC Santa Barbara is a 3.5-point home favorite over Loyola Marymount on Monday in the first of back-to-back games between the schools
- UCSB has opened with two blowouts of NAIA teams while Loyola Marymount is coming off a rout of Long Beach State
- See below for a betting preview and prediction for this game
Two longtime Southern California college basketball rivals are set to meet for the first time in a decade.
When Loyola Marymount visits UC-Santa Barbara at 8 pm EST on Monday at the Thunderdome, it will be the 50th meeting between the programs. However, it will also be their first game since Dec. 1, 2010.
UC-Santa Barbara is favored on its home floor.
Loyola Marymount vs. UC Santa Barbara Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola Marymount | +150 | +3.5 (-106) | Over 138.5 (-110) |
| UC Santa Barbara | -178 | -3.5 (-114) | Under 138.5 (-110) |
Odds taken Dec. 6 from FanDuel.
Loyola Marymount is 2-2 overall and 2-1-1 against the spread. The Lions are coming off an 85-61 home victory over Long Beach State on Friday in which they easily covered the 7.5-point spot.
UC Santa Barbara has a 2-0 record, beating a pair of NAIA teams in games that had no lines.
Balance Key for ULM
Joe Quintana led Loyola Marymount with 20 points in the win over Long Beach State.
Quintana is a junior combo guard who can shoot the 3-pointer as he knocked down six of 11 attempts from beyond the arc against the 49ers. He averaged 7.5 points a game in 2018-19 then was one of three Lions players to redshirt last season.
Loyola Marymount University | "Horns Double"
– Great design by Loyola Marymount to incorporate multiple actions before getting the ball into the hands of one of their better shooters in Joe Quintana (3ptFG% – 52% – 12-23 – 74% of his shots are 3's)@RisingCoaches x @FulcrumTec pic.twitter.com/AZGqMpNOk6
— Cody Cohen (@CoachCohen10) December 5, 2020
With a 13.5 point per game average, Quintana is one of five Loyola Marymount players scoring in double figures. He is joined by sophomore swingman Dameane Douglas (12.8), sophomore forward Keli Leaupepe (12.3), senior swingman Eli Scott (11.0) and freshman guard Jalin Anderson (10.7).
One of the top all-round players in the West Coast Conference, Scott has been stuffing the stat sheet. He leads the team with 10.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game.
That is a continuation of last season when Scott had averages of 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Junior Ivan Alipiev had his best game of the season Friday with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Through the Lions’ first three games, the Bulgarian had a total of four points and four rebounds.
UCSB Still Untested
It is tough to draw any conclusions about UCSB through the first two games other than it would probably gain a bid to the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City.
The Gauchos overwhelmed St. Katherine 92-55 and Bethesda 123-52.
This will be the Gauchos’ first game against a Division I opponent. They do have four starters returning from a team that had a 21-10 record last season and are expected to contend for the Big West Conference title in 2020-21.
Junior forward Amadou Sow scored 20 points in 19 minutes in the opener. However, he sat out the rout of Bethesda with an undisclosed injury.
FINAL
UC Santa Barbara: 123
Bethesda: 52Robinson Idehen 21 PTS 8 REBS
Josh Pierre-Louis 17 PTS 7 REBS
Miles Norris 13 PTS 8 REBS
Destin Barnes 11 PTS 3 REBS
JaQuori McLaughlin 9 PTS 7 ASTSGauchos break the ThunderDome scoring record with 123 points! pic.twitter.com/yzkonJeXRE
— UC Santa Barbara Basketball (@UCSBbasketball) December 4, 2020
Sow is expected to return to action Monday.
Sow is coming a fine sophomore season in which he averaged 14.1 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. He also shot 56% percent in his first two seasons at UCSB then made 10 of 12 field goal attempts in this year’s opener.
Sophomore forward Robinson Idehen is nearly averaging a double-double with 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. Sophomore guard Josh Pierre-Louis is scoring 14.5 points a game after transferring from Temple and junior forward Miles Norris has a 12.5 average.
Becoming Familiar
Loyola Marymount holds a 25-24 edge in the all-time series, though that is ancient history to the current players.
However, those players should know each better by the end of the week. The teams meet against Saturday on the Lions’ homecourt after breaking for finals.
As far as this one, balanced Loyola Marymount is the play against untested UC-Santa Barbara.
The Pick: Loyola Marymount moneyline (+150)
John Perrotto has been covering and writing about sports for various outlets for over 40 years. His work has appeared in the likes of USA TODAY, ESPN.com, SI.com, Forbes.com, The Associated Press, Baseball Digest, and more. John is based out of Beaver Falls, PA.
