The UC Riverside Highlanders and the Cal Poly Mustangs meet Saturday in college basketball action from Mott Athletic Center. UC Riverside is fresh off a Thursday game versus UC Irvine. In that matchup the Highlanders fell by 10 points. As for Cal Poly, they’re sitting at 7-23 on the year. The Mustangs last appeared in a loss to UC Davis last weekend. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UC Riverside Highlanders
UC Riverside posted a 15-7 record over their first 22 games. The Highlanders went 5-3 in the next eight with wins over UC Davis, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, CSU Northridge and Hawaii. The losses were to CSUF, UC Irvine and CSUB otherwise.
In Thursday’s matchup against UC Irvine, UC Riverside fell behind 36-30 by the break. The Highlanders were outscored 39-35 the rest of the way in a 75-65 defeat. Flynn Cameron topped the team on 26 points and five rebounds.
Cal Poly Mustangs
Over on the Cal Poly side, they managed a sketchy 7-16 run to start the year. The Mustangs have since lost to Hawaii, UC Irvine, CSU Northridge, CSU Bakersfield, CSU Fullerton, UC Irvine and UC Davis. A Thursday game versus UC San Diego was cancelled.
Last Saturday against UC Davis, the Mustangs were ahead 26-24 going into the second half. Cal Poly was outscored 34-26 from there however and lost 58-52. Brantly Stevenson led the team with 13 points and six rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll take a stab on Cal Poly here. Probably not touching it, though. The Mustangs have had a week off to reflect on their position right now, which isn’t good. Cal Poly has lost a whopping 17 straight games, but they’ve generally still been competitive. Three of their last four losses have come by eight points or fewer. When these teams last met back on January 16, the Highlanders took an 83-76 overtime victory. Cal Poly rallied in the second half to force overtime but couldn’t complete the comeback. If the Mustangs play like that again at home I think they’ve got a decent cover shot.