The Pac-12 is extremely good this year, however, the California Golden Bears will be at the bottom of the conference once the season plays out.
With a double-digit loss to UC San Diego at home, the Golden Bears are 0-1 and have to face a talented UNLV Rebels team on the road. When looking at both teams and their rosters, you would think that UNLV was the Pac-12 team instead of California.
Can UNLV fight off an underwhelming California team at home?
Read our picks and predictions between California vs UNLV for Saturday, November 13.
California vs UNLV odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
UNLV opened as a 5.5-point favorite and has jumped up to a 6.5-point favorite at most outlets. You can still find 5.5 at a couple books. Make sure to shop around. However, the total has stayed the same at 132.5 since opening.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until tip-off and be sure to check out the full college basketball odds before placing your bets.
California vs UNLV predictions
Predictions made on 11/13/2021 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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California vs UNLV game info
• Location: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
• Date: Saturday, November 13, 2021
• Tip-off: 8:00 p.m. ET
• TV: MWN
California at UNLV betting preview
Injuries
California: Monty Bowser F (Questionable), Jalen Celestine (Questionable), Makale Foreman G (Questionable), D.J. Thorpe F (Questionable)
UNLV: James Hampshire C (Questionable), Victor Iwuakor F (Questionable), Jordan McCabe G (Questionable)
Find our latest NCAA basketball injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Golden Bears are 1-6 ATS in their last seven games as an underdog of 0.5-6.5. Find more NCAA betting trends for California vs. UNLV.
California vs UNLV picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
The UNLV Rebels look more like a Pac-12 roster than California does. The Rebels added eight different transfers to play with just two newcomers.
The Rebels added Jordan McCabe from West Virginia, Mike Nuga, who averaged 17.8 points per game for Kent State, Victor Iwuakor from Oklahoma, Royce Hamm and Donovan Williams from Texas, Justin Webster from Hawaii, David Mukoa from Lamar and James Hampshire from Pacific.
Currently, three of those transfers are questionable for this game, but the Rebels really made noise this offseason by adding all of this talent. The Rebels only scored four points off the bench against Gardner Webb however, so it’ll be nice to get those three transfers in the game as soon as possible. Once that happens, UNLV will have terrific depth moving forward.
On the other hand, California is dealing with a bunch of injuries as well. This team is pretty much the same as last year’s, with the addition of Jordan Shepherd from Charlotte. The Golden Bears lost two players that made an impact, but the rest of the team is still here. That really isn’t a great thing after the Golden Bears went 3-17 in Pac-12 play last year.
UNLV might not have the depth offensively just yet, but defensively, they’ll get plenty of stops to cover this game.
Prediction: UNLV -5 (-110)
Over/Under analysis
UNLV’s defense was impressive against Gardner Webb. The Rebels played nine players for at least 10 minutes, and while the bench didn’t do much scoring, the defense looked solid and fresh.
On the other hand, California isn’t going to dominate offensively, but they’ve been pretty bad defensively within the last couple of seasons. Allowing UC San Diego to drop 80 on you at home is never a good thing. However, UNLV really doesn’t have much scoring depth until some of the new transfers get back into game action.
Currently, both teams have a lot of questionable players that have yet to play this season. Therefore, I’ll stick with the Under.
Prediction: Under 132.5 (-110)
Best bet
Again, UNLV looks like a Pac-12 team while California looks like a bottom-tier Mountain West team. Roles should be reversed between these two squads.
California is going to stick to developing players right now, and added just one player in the transfer portal during a time where the portal had the most players. To me, that’s just being stubborn. California brought in Shepherd, who had 11.9 points per game with Charlotte last year, the most points per game of all of his teammates at California.
It’s just not a good look. If they want to develop talent and rebuild, that’s fine. Go ahead and do that. I’ll take the other side. I’ll take a UNLV team that added eight transfers to play around Bryce Hamilton, who dropped nearly 18 points per game last year. That’s how you win.
Pick: UNLV -5 (-110)
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