Pac 10 Conference Play – California @ Washington St
California has captured a winning formula under their first-year coach, Mike Montgomery, who was formerly the head man at Stanford and with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. The Bears have scored big non-conference wins over UNLV, DePaul, Utah and Nevada, and opened up the Pac-10 season beating both Arizona and Arizona State. They haven’t had to travel yet in the conference schedule, so this will be more of a test than some might expect.
NCAA Basketball Sports Betting
California Golden Bears at Washington State Cougars
BetUS NCAA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: PICK’EM
Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* CAL has won its last seven games SU
* CAL has covered its last six games
* CAL has covered 10 of its last 15 road games
* CAL has covered two of its last six road games
* CAL has lost seven of its last 10 road games SU
* CAL has played 11 of its last 14 road games OVER the total
* WSU has covered two of its last eight games
* WSU has lost four of its last six games SU
* WSU has played eight of its last 10 games UNDER the total
* WSU has covered one of its last five home games
* WSU has won 10 of its last 13 home games SU
* WSU has played four of its last six home games UNDER the total
Also…
* WSU is 4-1-1 ATS in the last six meetings
* CAL has won 11 of the last 16 meetings SU
* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total
* CAL has won six of the last eight meetings SU as the home team
* WSU has covered four of the last six meetings
* WSU has had the shooting edge in five of the last six meetings
* CAL has had the rebounding edge in five of the last eight meetings
* CAL has made more three-pointers in four of the last six meetings
Washington State lost some of its scoring punch when Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver graduated. That was over 16 points a game, which for a team playing such a controlled, deliberate pace, is a lot. Coach Tony Bennett would like to have a high-percentage game on the inside with 6’10” center Aron Baynes, who is shooting 63% from the field and averaging 11.4 points. What’s a little bit worrisome is that Wazzou’s point guard, Taylor Rochestie, has an assist-turnover ratio that is not that eye-popping (4.5-to-2.7) and he has very little in the way of an outside shot (37.4% FG’s).
Bennett clearly has a lot of work to do. In their last outing, the Cougars were beaten by a 68-48 count by cross-state rival Washington, which had lost seven straight games to WSU. That’s not a good sign. Neither are some of the Cougars’ other scoring totals, as they have tallied just 43 against Pitt, 52 against Baylor, 52 against Gonzaga and LSU. Unless Bennett can get his defenders to really get on the perimeter and force very bad shots, it is a chore to play catch-up.
This is a bad opponent for them in that regard. In terms of three-point shooting, this is no contest whatsoever. Washington State is 31.8% for the season, while California is 50.6%, which leads the nation. Jerome Randle (19.5 ppg) is 56% from beyond the arc, while Theo Robertson is 62%. Patrick Christopher has hot “only” 38% from three-point range. It’s going to be very difficult for the Cougars to trade points.
Washington State hasn’t really passed any tests against strong opponents, and have covered one of their last five at home. In this pick’em situation in the BetUS NCAA college basketball sports betting odds, we want to go with the team with a more efficient offense, and for us, that’s California.
