California Golden Bears vs. Utah Utes: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/5/2023

by Chuck Sommers

Sunday, Feb 05, 2023
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Venue: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Where to watch: ESPNU

Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks


DraftKings: Utah -16
FanDuel: Utah -15.5
BetMGM: Utah -15.5
Caesars: Utah -16

Season record
Cal: 3-19 (2-9 Pac-12)
Utah: 15-9 (8-5 Pac-12)

February is here and the college basketball season is taking full shape. Conference races still to be determined, the top 25 completely in shambles for what seems like every week, and there's bound to be an upset what seems like every single week. But as the season continues to progress with what seems like exciting action every week, you know our champion handicappers continue to put the work in each and every week to not only make money for them, but to ensure you get money in your pocket. All you need to do is look at the last 30 days. Scott Rickenbach has reeled in a net profit of $14,000 with a 24-9-0 run on the college hardwood. Team Del Genio has killed it with a 13-1-0 run at +$11,900. Will Rogers (28-15-0) and Matt Fargo (40-27-0) have also seen five figures over the last 30 days with college basketball. Surely, you want to get on this winning as well. All you need to do is go to bigal.com, check out our Best Bets page and make sure you are following along on the action. March will be here before you know it! Take advantage of our best best plays and find out what our champion handicappers are doing at bigal.com!

Cal - Utah preview, prediction and analysis


Recent form
Cal: lost 59-46 at Colorado
Utah: lost 78-72 vs. Stanford

When you get this late into the college basketball season and you have two teams that are on the complete opposite sides of the conference spectrum, you can almost rule out clear upsets at least I think.
 
Because by now you have a clear understanding of which team is not good in which team is not horrible. And when you look at the landscape of the PAC 12 right now, the California Golden Bears are absolutely of the not good variety while the Utah Utes are not great but not horrible. And we will see how that plays out when Cal visits Utah on Sunday.
 
How bad do you have to be to somehow be 2-9 in conference play and still be 3-19 on the season? That is the current situation with this California basketball team and if you're looking for any sort of offense for this program, good luck trying to find it. In their last four games, Cal has scored 58, 48, 46, and 46. To give you an idea the level of competition that Cal is losing to right now, the golden bears have lost to a nine wind Oregon State team by 20 points, a 10 win Stanford team by 29 points, and a 13 win Colorado team by 13 points.
 
I can rest assure you that that is not good basketball. It's not even remotely competitive basketball. This program has been a laughingstock for the better part of a decade? And there never seems to be any advancements or any progress with what this program is trying to do and quite frankly it is absolutely laughable that this team still even has a punchers chance of even being remotely close to competing for a conference championship because once they get to the tournament it's all questionable from there.
 
But it's not like Utah is off the hook over the last couple of games either. Utah has lost two straight and has dampered their hopes of possibly leapfrogging UCLA or Arizona for the top spot in the conference with losses to Oregon and Stanford. You remember that whole conversation about how Stanford is not really a good team to be losing to? Utah absolutely fits that bill.
 
At least Utah has taken care of business against teams like Oregon State by 19 points, like Washington by 25 points, and by Washington state by 14 points. At least Utah in recent memory has been able to do that and do so at an effective way. Unfortunately those kinds of losses that we just touched on are not going to be ones that we will be looking back on fondly if Utah is to have any chance at winning this conference. And considering there is a UCLA team and an Arizona team that is already in the top 25 and will make the tournament regardless, Utah is not yet in that build and they have to win out possibly to strengthen their chances at playing deep into March.
 
Prediction
 
At the end of the day, sometimes you just have to understand who is better than the other team on that day. And you look at the way that Cal has just plummeted to the bottom of the standings both nationally and in conference, there should be no reason why Utah doesn't attack on another 20 point win or in even a 25 point win against this sad state of affairs that's going on in Berkeley. Utah 84, Cal 61

Betting trends


Cal is 9-13 ATS in all games this season.

Cal is 14-16 ATS on the road the last 3 seasons.

Utah is 24-7 ATS as a home favorite of 12.5 to 15 since 1997.

Projected starting lineup


Cal:
PG: DeJuan Clayton
SG: Joel Brown
SF: Monty Bowser
PF: Grant Newell
C: Lars Thiemann

Utah:
PG: Rollie Worster
SG: Gabe Madsen
SF: Marco Anthony
PF: Ben Carlson
C: Branden Carlson

Statistical leaders

Cal:
Points: Lars Thiemann -- 10.3
Rebounds: Lars Thiemann -- 6.0
Assists: Joel Brown -- 2.9

Utah:
Points: Branden Carlson -- 16.7
Rebounds: Branden Carlson -- 7.5
Assists: Rollie Worster -- 5.3

Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert basketball picks today. And if you enjoyed this Cal Golden Bears - Utah Utes prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily college basketball projections and previews.

Chuck Sommers

About the Author:

Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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