Washington State Cougars vs California Golden Bears Prediction, 1/7/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Washington State Cougars vs California Golden Bears

Date: Thursday, January 7, 2021

Location: Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, CA

TV: PAC12

Odds/Point Spread: Washington State (+1)

Haas Pavilion is the venue where and the California Golden Bears (5-6) will play the Washington State Cougars (8-1) on Thursday. Washington State opens this game as 1-point underdogs. The over/under has been set at 129.5.

Washington State enters this matchup with a mark of 8-1 for the season. They are averaging 70.2 points per game (235th in D-1) while going 40.2% from the floor. The Cougars are shooting 31.1% on shots from beyond the arc (64 of 206) and 66.1% from the charity stripe. As a unit, Washington State is grabbing 43.7 boards per game and has racked up 104 assists for the campaign, which is 212th in the nation in terms of passing the rock. They are turning it over 14.4 times per contest and as a group they are committing 17.1 personal fouls on a nightly basis. When they are on defense, the Cougars are able to force 13.7 turnovers per game while drawing 22.0 fouls. They are conceding 26.4% on shots from beyond the arc and they are ranked 26th in college basketball in PPG from their opponents (60.8). The Cougars defense is giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 34.2% (194 of 567) and they concede 38.6 boards per game as a squad. They are ranked 141st in the country in giving up assists to the opposition with 98 surrendered on the campaign.

The Washington State Cougars took the court against the Arizona Wildcats and took a loss by a final of 86-82 in their last game. Washington State ended the contest with a 40.6% FG percentage (28 of 69) and made 7 of their 28 three-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Cougars made 19 of 37 tries for a percentage of 51.4%. In reference to hauling in rebounds, they collected 45 with 13 of them being of the offensive sort. They also doled out 11 assists in this game as well as earning 6 steals and 4 blocks. In reference to defense, Washington State allowed their opponent to shoot 40.6% from the floor on 28 of 69 shooting. Arizona distributed 12 assists and had 8 steals for this contest. Additionally, the Wildcats pulled down 49 boards (13 offensive, 36 defensive) and added 4 blocked shots. Arizona ended up shooting 78.1% when shooting free throws by burying 25 of their 32 shots. They also made 5 of 22 tries from three-point range.

Isaac Bonton is a guy who came through for the game. He left the arena with 25 points on 10 out of 23 shooting. He saw the court for 47 mins and collected 4 rebounds. Bonton shot 43.5% from the floor and recorded 3 assists. Someone else that was a determining factor in the game for the Cougars was Noah Williams. He pulled down 2 rebounds and collected 2 assists. He went 50.0% from the field for the game by going 7-of-14 (16 points). When the final whistle blew, Williams saw the court for 43 minutes.

California has a record of 5-6 for the year. California has totaled 751 points on the year (68.3 per game) and they collect 34.0 boards per game. The Golden Bears have committed 17.4 fouls per game and they shoot 66.2% from the free throw line. When it comes to offensive execution, the Golden Bears are shooting 45.9% from the field, which is 124th in the nation. They are dishing out assists 12.9 times per game (212th in the nation) and they lose possession via turnover 14.4 times per game. The Golden Bears are ranked 135th in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 67.9. They have surrendered 14.4 assists and 32.0 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks them 261st and 62nd in the nation. The California defense concedes 38.2% on 3-point attempts (86 of 225) and opponents are making 66.5% of their free throw attempts. They are able to force 12.2 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 44.6% from the floor (246th in college basketball).

For their last game, the California Golden Bears took a loss by a final score of 73-64 against the Oregon State Beavers. The Golden Bears corralled 21 defensive boards and 6 offensive rebounds totaling 27 in this contest. They also stuffed 2 tries while earning 5 steals for the contest. The Beavers were called for 22 personal fouls in the game which took the Golden Bears to the charity stripe for a total of 28 attempts. They were able to convert 14 of the free throw tries for a rate of 50.0%. When discussing shooting from beyond the arc, California made 6 out of 17 tries (35.3%). When the final whistle blew, the Golden Bears walked away from this one shooting 22 out of 43 from the field which gave them a percentage of 51.2%. The Golden Bears allowed the Beavers to knock down 24 of their 54 tries from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 44.4% for this contest. They finished the game shooting 45.0% from 3-point land by shooting 9 of 20 and ended up going 16 out of 21 from the charity stripe (76.2%). With respect to how they cleaned up the glass, California permitted Oregon State to snag 27 overall (9 offensive).

Andre Kelly was important for the Golden Bears in this matchup. He buried 5 out of 6 for the matchup for a field goal rate of 83.3%, which earned him 12 points. Kelly snagged 4 boards in his 29 minutes and totaled 2 dimes for this contest. One more player that ended up playing a role for California was Makale Foreman. He notched 12 points in 25 minutes played by way of 3 out of 7 from the floor for the game. Foreman wrapped this one up going 42.9% from the floor while totaling 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take California (-1)

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