Big West basketball is live with this matchup between two contending teams in the conference. The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (19-8) will visit sunny California to take on the Bakersfield Roadrunners (10-16). Check out our college basketball odds series for our Hawaii-Bakersfield prediction and pick.
The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors are currently fourth in the Big West standings and have done well against the conference going 10-5. They’re just two games back of UC Irvine for the lead, so a win here would be huge for the Rainbow Warriors in closing the gap between themselves and the top of the standings. Their overall record is impressive, but they’ll need to secure a few more wins down the stretch to feel comfortable ahead of the Big West Tournament.
The UC Bakersfield Roadrunners have had a few bad runs this season and find themselves at 6-9 in the Big West. Their hopes of making the tournament and contending in the Big West have dwindled and as the regular season draws to a close, the Roadrunners will look to maintain their pride through these last few games. Having won four of their last five, Bakersfield will look for another inspired win at home.
Here are the Hawaii-Bakersfield college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Hawaii-Bakersfield Odds
Hawaii: -6.5 (-102)
Bakersfield: +6.5 (-120)
Over: 120.5 (-115)
Under: 120.5 (-105)
How To Watch Hawaii vs. Bakersfield
TV: Regional Coverage
Stream: fuboTV
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Hawaii Could Cover The Spread
The Rainbow Warriors are having one of their best seasons in recent memory. They share the ball very well as a team and favor a scoring-by-committee approach as all of their starters average around 10-13 PPG. Forward Bernardo da Silva has been solid for Hawaii all year with his ability to block shots and run down the floor quickly. They’ll look to Noel Coleman as their leading scorer to lift them over the Roadrunners and cover this spread.
Hawaii hasn’t been covering well lately, going just 2-5 ATS in their last seven games. On the road, however, they’re 4-3 overall and have covered the spread at the same rate. The long trips from Hawaii make it difficult for them to string together wins on the road, but they’ll have a great opportunity to do so against a worse opponent in Bakersfield. The Rainbow Warriors will have an advantage down low, so look for them to pound the ball inside and hope they can convert on high-percentage shots.
Why Bakersfield Could Cover The Spread
Bakersfield has had a season to forget, but remembering the success in their last five games could serve as a motivating factor moving forward. They previously faced off against this Hawaii team, but lost by three points in an extremely close game. Bakersfield has just one starting player averaging double-digits, so they’ll need a bigger effort in getting buckets against a better team than them.
Antavion Collum has been one of the only consistencies of this Roadrunners team. He can score in a number of ways, but especially likes to drive hard to the basket and pull up from mid-range. He moves the Roadrunners’ offense, so his teammates will have to get hot with him if he decided to go on a scoring run. It’s by no mean a one man show as the Roadrunners like to swing the ball and kick out for open shots.
Final Hawaii-Bakersfield Prediction & Pick
Hawaii has more to play for and will be the hungrier team. The recent run Bakersfield has been on is impressive, but they’ve lost to this Hawaii team once before. My prediction is that Hawaii will look good tonight and make this second meeting a lot less competitive than the first.
Final Hawaii-Bakersfield Prediction & Pick: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors -6.5 (-102)