UC Irvine vs UC Santa Barbara Odds and Picks for Big West Championship Game
- Top-seed UC Santa Barbara will bring a four-game winning streak into the Big West tournament final against UC Irvine on Saturday at 11:30 pm ET
- UC Irvine is the defending tournament champion, winning the last time the event was played in 2019
- Check the odds, analysis, and betting predictions below
UC Santa Barbara (21-4) won four games in a row as it prepares to meet UC Irvine in the Big West tournament championship game at 11:30 pm ET on Saturday. The Gauchos have lost one game since the calendar turned to 2021.
UC Irvine (18-8) has won six games in a row and also carries with it the knowledge that it swept a two-game series from UC Santa Barbara when the teams met in Orange County in December.
UC Irvine vs UC Santa Barbara Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| UC Irvine Anteaters | +120 | +2.5 (-109) | O 127.0 (-107) |
| UC Santa Barbara Gauchos | -143 | -2.5 (-112) | U 127.0 (-113) |
Odds taken on March 13.
Unlike in most conference tournaments in what has been an exceptional season, here in the Big West, the strong have survived. UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine finished 1-2 in the regular season to earn the top two tournament seeds, and neither had a lot of trouble making the finals.
The semifinals games were relatively drama-free, UC Santa Barbara beating UC Davis 71-55 and UC Irvine beating UC Riverside 78-61. UC Irvine won the tournament as the No. 1 seed in 2019.
The Best Match-Up
UC Santa Barbara senior guard JaQuori McLaughlin was named the Big West Player of the Year after averaging 16.9 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.5 rebounds, but he is hardly the lone ranger in this game, individually or from a team standpoint.
UC Irvine 6’11, 270-pound senior center Brad Greene was named the Big West Defensive Player of the Year, and Anteaters’ guard Dawson Baker was named the Freshman of the Year.
In addition to clogging the middle and protecting the rim, Greene is averaging 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He has 52 blocked shots this season, with a career-high nine against Cal St. Fullerton on Feb. 20 and five in the quarterfinal victory over Cal Poly here. Greene has 27 blocked shots in his last seven games.
Greene had his typical impact in the victory over Riverside — eight points, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and anchoring a defense that limited the Riverside to 34.4% shooting from the field.
The Gauchos’ Joe Pasternack is the Big West coach of the year.
The teams’ styles are in sharp contrast.
UC Santa Barbara led the league in the regular season in scoring margin, field goal percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Anteaters led the league in field goal percentage defense, rebound margin, steals and blocked shots.
Bucking a Trend
UC Santa Barbara, which won the Big West regular-season title after finishing second the previous three seasons, is looking to become only the fourth No. 1 seed to win the tournament in 10 years. The Gauchos are the only team to win back-to-back titles since 2010-11.
The Gauchos will look to the 1-2 punch of McLaughlin and big man Amadou Sow, as they have all season.
JaQuori McLaughlin finds Ajare Sanni for three! 🎯#GoGauchos | @_ajare | @Jroc__3 pic.twitter.com/FbzfssScIE
— UC Santa Barbara Basketball (@UCSBbasketball) March 13, 2021
McLaughlin had 17 points and four assists in the 71-55 victory over UC Davis after finishing with 22 points and five rebounds in the 95-87 quarterfinal victory over Long Beach State
Sow had 23 points and seven rebounds against UC Davis, making nine of 10 free throws in a game that was decided at the free throw line. The Gauchos made 28-of-34 free throws. UC Davis was 6-of-8.
Reserve guard Ajare Sanni, who was named the league’s sixth man of the year, had 16 points and made 8-of-9 free throws in the semifinals after scoring 11 points against Long Beach State.
UC Irvine Swept the Series
UC Irvine won two-game regular-season series this season, taking 75-56 and 73-69 victories on Dec. 27-28, as part of a seven-game winning streak. The Anteaters have won eight of their last nine.
The Anteaters beat the Gauchos on the defensive end in the series sweep, limiting them to 32.1% and 39.9% shooting in the two games. UC Santa Barbara made 11-of-45 three-point attempts and were out-rebounded by an average of 7.5 boards a game.
Greene had 24 points and 20 rebounds against the Gauchos.
Junior 6’9 forward Collin Welp led the team in scoring (14.8 points) and rebounding (7.7) in the regular season, and he led the league in rebounding. Baker was the only other double-figure scorer at 10.8 points per game.
Welp had 17 points and six rebounds against Riverside and finished the regular season on a high note, averaging a double-double over the last seven games – 19.4 points and 10.4 rebounds – while shooting 56.3 percent from the field.
Past performance does not always signal present trends, but in this case UC Irvine is the play. UC Santa Barbara is looking for revenge, but that does not mean it has found a way to score against Brad Greene and Co.
The pick: UC Irvine
Jack has covered college and professional sports for various Arizona media outlets since the 1980s and has written for the Associated Press, USA Today and Baseball America, among others. He staffed the 2015-17 World Series and has staffed four Super Bowls.
