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The 14th-seeded UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (27-7) meet the No. 3 Baylor Bears (22-10) in an NCAA Tournament first-round game in Denver Friday. The contest at Ball Arena will tip off at 1:30 p.m. ET (TNT). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the UC Santa Barbara vs. Baylor
odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
UC Santa Barbara swept the regular-season and tournament titles in this season’s Big West Conference play. UCSB sported that league’s most efficient offense, averaging 72.2 points per game. The Gauchos are a good shooting team and one that takes care of the ball and frequently totes it to the free-throw line. They enter this game on a 7-game win streak.
Baylor lost it regular-season finale and Big 12 Tournament opener and is just 2-4 in its last 6 games. The 11th-ranked Bears have struggled with their 2-point shooting over that stretch while their 3-point shooting (40.6% on 26.7 attempts per game over those 6 games) has continued to be Baylor’s bread and butter.
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UC Santa Barbara vs. Baylor odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 10:44 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline: UC Santa Barbara +450 (bet $100 to win $450) | Baylor -700 (bet $700 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): UC Santa Barbara +11.5 (-112) | Baylor -11.5 (-108)
- Over/Under (O/U): 143.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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UC Santa Barbara vs. Baylor picks and predictions
Prediction
Baylor 74, UC Santa Barbara 63
Moneyline
Avoid the pool of juice floating these tags. PASS.
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Against the spread
UCSB is 20-10-1 ATS and the Gauchos have not been an ATS loser since Feb. 20. Peg UC Santa Barbara as just a sliver of a lean here. The Bears are quite dangerous and can so easily flip a late 8-point lead to 14 in short order. The Gauchos would be an actionable play at +12.5 or +13.
PASS.
Over/Under
The Gauchos play at a bottom-3rd pace, and they will try to grind this game down to as few possessions as possible. They do take good enough care of the basketball to at least keep BU from 3-bombing them to death in transition.
There will be plenty of build-up by 3s and clock-stopped-1s (free throws), but look Baylor saving some in reserve for the weekend. Look for a score in the 130s.
TAKE THE UNDER 143.5 (-110).
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