Hawaii Rainbow Warriors vs. Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/20/2023

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: Icardo Center, Bakersfield, CA

Where to watch: ESPN+

DraftKings: Hawaii -6

FanDuel: Hawaii -6.5

BetMGM: Hawaii -6.5

Caesars: Hawaii -6

Hawaii: 19-8 (10-6 Big West)

Cal State Bakersfield: 10-16 (6-9 Big West)

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It seems like forever since the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors were this relevant. You have to go back to that shocking second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 to find the last time Hawaii had a team that was chasing for the tournament. The Rainbow Warriors will try for their 20th win of the season on Monday when they visit the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners at Icardo Center

Have you ever taken 10 seconds to look at the makeup of the Big West Conference? It’s literally all California teams and Hawaii. It’s quite the most remarkable lineup for a conference we’ve ever seen. If Hawaii ever went back anywhere else, they’d be called the California Conference or something dumb. Maybe that happens later down the road in life, but right now, Hawaii is trying to crash the party of the California conundrums.

Hawaii comes into this game winners of three of four, the lone loss being a 52-51 to Cal State Fullerton at home on Feb. 11. The Rainbow Warriors followed that up with a 70-67 win at Long Beach State on Saturday. This conference is truly a bunch of clusters at the top with a lot of capable teams that could represent this conference in the NCAA Tournament. There appears to be a strong middle brewing between Hawaii, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, while UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside in the top three.

Kamaka Hepa had 19 points and four rebounds, while Bernardo da Silva had 17 points and nine rebounds to help Hawaii stave off a second-half rally from Long Beach State. Hawaii, which has been known for having a stingy defense all season long averaging 61 points allowed per game, shot 47 percent from the floor and held LBSU to just 41 percent from the floor and won despite four starters from LBSU scoring in double figures.

Hawaii is laying about 6.5 in this one and is facing the California team that isn’t in the top cluster of the California Conundrum, despite the fact that Cal State Bakersfield has won four of five since losing four straight and is putting together a respectable conference campaign after things seemed bleak once upon a time after a 4-9 start in overall play.

The Roadrunners are coming off a 70-62 win over Cal Poly on the road where Antavion Collum led the way with 23 points and four assists to go with six rebounds, and Marvin McGhee III had 16 points with his only makes coming from 3-point range. Take into account Cal State Bakersfield made four combined all game, this is the true mark of the arrow pointing up.

The underdog has gone 4-1 against the spread in the last five meetings, which bodes well for the fact that Cal State Bakersfield could pull off an upset. But the way Hawaii’s defense seems to travel on the road, CSUB could be in for a long game. Hawaii 77, Cal State Bakersfield 64

Hawaii is 9-12 ATS as a favorite this season.

Hawaii is 10-14 ATS after a road game the last 3 seasons.

Cal State Bakersfield is 23-27 ATS against conference opponents the last 3 seasons.

PG: Jovon McClanahan

SG: Noel Coleman

SF: Samuta Avea

PF: Bernardo da Silva

C: Kamaka Hepa

PG: Ivan Reynolds

SG: Marvin McGhee III

SF: Travis Henson

PF: Cameron Smith

C: Dude Collum