Big West action will resume Thursday night when Long Beach takes a trip to Cal Irvine for a re-match. The initial meeting took place on January 9 and resulted in a 46-44 win for Russell Turner’s club.
The Anteaters have been solid this season, currently sitting in second place within the Big West at 5-2 while carrying a 14-9 overall record. They beat Washington on the road earlier in the year, but the vast majority of their resume includes shortcomings against bigger schools.
Long Beach struggled mightily for much of the early part of the year thanks to a young roster and ridiculous schedule. They have righted the ship in conference play and sit at 5-2, good for third place thanks to tiebreakers.
This 49ers squad has won four in a row thanks to an emerging defense currently ranked in the top 100 in national efficiency. Irvine counters with an even better defense, but their offense has been suspect at best. They are one of the worst free throw shooting teams in America and have struggled in their last three games, dropping two of them.
The first match-up saw Dan Jennings and Michael Caffey sit to open the game for an unspecified reason. Neither player was able to work themselves into much of an offensive rhythm and it allowed Irvine to squeak by for the road win.
Since that time, “The Beach” has been able to move forward thanks to the three headed monster of Caffey, Jennings and UCLA transfer Tyler Lamb. While this club is still coming along and has its offensive issues, these three players provide a spark for Dan Monson’s club that Irvine could struggle to match.
Irvine is a slightly better rebounding group, but they aren’t good enough on the offensive boards for it to really matter. The Anteaters feature a lineup that includes 7’6 freshman Mamadou Ndiaye. He has been a real spark for this team both defensively and on the glass, and he tallied four blocks to go along with 11 boards and four points in 33 minutes of action during the first go around.
Irvine is a solid ball club, but they lack the firepower to warrant being a six point favorite in this game. Monson’s club has beat the number in four games consecutively and seven of nine overall. They are also 3-1 ATS in their last four games as a road dog.
That hasn’t prevented well over 70% of spread bets to come in on the Anteaters here, but there is a reason the 49ers have won the three previous Big West Conference titles. I don’t know that they will win it this year, but I do believe they have the talent to make this a very tough game for Irvine tonight.
Long Beach +6
