Men’s college basketball action continues on Thursday at 10:00 PM ET as Long Beach State squares off with UC Riverside in men’s college basketball action at SRC Arena.

The championship matchup pairs two 14–3 teams coming off sharply contrasting conference title games, with New England advancing through a low-scoring, snow-filled AFC Championship win over Denver and Seattle earning its place after a 31–27 NFC Championship thriller against the Rams.

The clash also spotlights two offensive focal points, with Drake Maye guiding New England through a composed, run-focused AFC title performance and Jaxon Smith-Njigba entering as Seattle’s primary playmaker following a 153-yard, one-touchdown outing in the NFC Championship.

Based on updated simulations, Dimers’ proven college basketball model predicts Long Beach State as the most likely winner of the Long Beach State vs. UC Riverside game.

This article offers an expanded analysis of Thursday’s matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

Long Beach State vs. UC Riverside prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using powerful machine learning and data, we have simulated the outcome of Thursday’s NCAA basketball matchup between Long Beach State and UC Riverside 10,000 times as part of our men’s college basketball predictions coverage.

Our famous predictive model currently gives Long Beach State a 57% chance of beating UC Riverside. Our predicted final score has Long Beach State winning 72-71.

According to our model, UC Riverside (+2.5) has a 56% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 145.5 points has a 53% chance of staying under.

 

Long Beach State vs. UC Riverside odds

We have sourced the best men’s college basketball odds in America for this game, which are listed here:

Bet Type
Long Beach State
UC Riverside

Spread
-2.5 (-102)
+2.5 (-115)

Moneyline
-142
+120

Total
o145.5 (-105)
u145.5 (-105)

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

Long Beach State vs. UC Riverside picks and best bet

After matching our predictions against the best current odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below: