Get ready for late night Pac-12 basketball as the Oregon State Beavers and the California Golden Bears will face off at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at Haas Pavilion. California is 3-4 overall and 3-1 at home, while Oregon State is 1-6 overall and 0-2 on the road. The matchup is the first for each within the Pac-12, and Cal is hoping for a better run through the conference than last season, when it finished dead last with a 3-17 Pac-12 record.
Oregon State finished 10-10 in conference play last season, but things have been grim for head coach Wayne Tinkle this year, as the Beavers haven't won since their first game of the season. The Golden Bears are favored by 2.5 points in the latest California vs. Oregon State odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over-under is set at 126. Before entering any Oregon State vs. California picks, you'll want to see the college basketball predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. Over the past five-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated an impressive profit of almost $2,100 for $100 players on its top-rated college basketball picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on California vs. Oregon State. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college basketball odds for Oregon State vs. Calf:
- California vs. Oregon State spread: California -2.5
- California vs. Oregon State over-under: 126 points
What you need to know about California
The Golden Bears beat the Fresno State Bulldogs 65-57 on Sunday. The top scorer for California was guard Jordan Shepherd (17 points). Shepherd has been the team's second-leading scorer this season, and has averaged 13.1 points per game. Andre Kelly has been the team's best player overall, and he averages 16.1 points and nine rebounds per game. Kelly didn't put up huge numbers against Fresno, but he was efficient, and made six of his eight shots in the game to finish with 14 points.
Cal hasn't been a very dynamic team on defense, and average just 5.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game, but the Bears have been good at limiting shots. Opponents have taken an average of just 54.9 shots per game against Cal this season, and have hit just over 34 percent of their 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, Cal doesn't jack up many 3-pointers of its own, but has sunk 36 percent of them so far this season.
What you need to know about Oregon State
Oregon State is looking for answers after a sixth consecutive loss, the most recent of which came 60-45 to the Penn State Nittany Lions. Jarod Lucas finished with 11 points, but the Beavers shot just 31.4 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from 3-point range. They kept things closer in their previous game, an 80-77 loss to Wake Forest on the previous day, but they made just 2 of 14 3-point attempts in that one.
Cal and Oregon State seemingly mirror each other in many facets of the game, but one area where the Beavers may have an edge is in turnovers. Oregon State has averaged 11.3 giveaways per game, but force 13 per contest from opponents. Meanwhile, Cal typically turns the ball over 12.4 times and forces just 11.7 takeaways. Lucas and Gianni Hunt lead the Beavers in steals this season, with seven apiece.
How to make California vs. Oregon State picks
The model is leaning over on the total, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in 60 percent of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
Who wins California vs. Oregon State? And which side of the spread is a must-back? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its college basketball picks to find out
