College basketball betting free picks: Cal Irvine @ UC Davis

Added on Jan 14, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

A short card of NBA action tonight with only two games, but a good sized online sports betting slate. We’ll head to the Big West which is annually a favorite target of serious hoops handicappers. These teams share a number of similarities in their YTD performance, as they play well at home and struggle on the road. UC Davis has dealt with a lot of injuries this season and may be without their leading scorer tonight but either way we still like this position:

Cal Irvine at UC Davis
January 14, 7:00 PM Pacific

Biggest question surrounding UC Davis is the status of guard Mark Payne, who is their leading scorer and best defender. He’s averaging 17.2 PPG but has missed the last couple of games with a shoulder injury. He’s listed as questionable for this game, but there are some indications that he’ll return here. He’s got a good supporting cast, led by forward Dominic Calegari (16.1 PPG, 6.1 boards per) and guard Joe Harden (13.8 PPG, 7.4 boards per). Calegari has worked hard to pick up the slack caused by Payne’s absence, posting several double/doubles and a career high 28 points on 1/4 against Cal State Northridge.

Cal Irvine is only 2-5 SU on the road and have been plagued by porous defense this season. Their low point was a 1/4 game against Cal Poly SLO where they gave up 95 points. If Payne plays, Davis should win and cover easily but even without him they’ve got a number of offensive weapons that should put up solid numbers against this opponent. At this price, we just need Davis to win the game and they should be able to do so against a weak road opponent.

Bet UC Davis PK over Cal Irvine