Long Beach State Beach vs Cal State Northridge Matadors Prediction, 1/17/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Long Beach State Beach vs Cal State Northridge Matadors

Date: Saturday, January 17, 2026

Location: Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, CA

TV: ESPN+

The Long Beach State Beach (6-11) are on their way to Premier America Credit Union Arena on Saturday where they will take on the Cal State Northridge Matadors (10-8).

The Long Beach State Beach played CSU Bakersfield and went home with a win by a final score of 81-75 in their last game. In relation to personal fouls, the Beach walked away with 19 while CSU Bakersfield accounted for 20 personal fouls. They converted 6 out of their 18 attempts from beyond the perimeter. CSU Bakersfield finished shooting 85.0% at the charity stripe by making 17 of their 20 shots. Additionally, CSU Bakersfield collected 30 boards (7 offensive, 23 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. CSU Bakersfield totaled 18 dimes and had 7 steals for the contest. In relation to defending, Long Beach State allowed their opponent to shoot 43.3% from the field on 26 of 60 shooting. They also doled out 18 assists in this game while forcing the other team into 14 turnovers and getting 10 steals. Regarding grabbing rebounds, they collected 32 with 5 of them being of the offensive sort. From the free throw line, the Beach converted 22 of 29 tries for a rate of 75.9%. Long Beach State ended the game with a 49.1% field goal percentage (26 of 53) and knocked down 7 of 17 shots from distance.

Petar Majstorovic is someone who came through for this contest. He ended up going 75.0% from the field and dished out 2 assists. He played 29 mins played and also pulled down 3 rebounds. He totaled 23 points on 9 of 12 shooting.

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Long Beach State heads into this contest with a win-loss record of 6-11 for the year. They lose possession by turning the ball over 12.4 times per contest and as a group they commit 19.8 fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Long Beach State is grabbing 33.5 boards per contest and has 236 dimes this season, which has them ranked 226th in the country in terms of passing the ball. The Beach are hitting 31.6% on shots from downtown (112 of 354) and 71.6% from the free throw line. They currently have an average of 74.6 pts per game (236th in D-1) while shooting 45.6% from the field.

Defensively, the Beach are forcing 13.8 turnovers per game and they draw 16.2 fouls. They currently rank 216th in college hoops in giving up assists to their opponents with 238 surrendered on the campaign. The Beach are allowing and opponent field goal percentage of 47.8% (447 of 935) and they relinquish 33.1 boards per contest as a squad. They are surrendering 37.2% from beyond the arc and they are 277th in college in points per game allowed (77.1).

The last time they took the court, the Cal State Northridge Matadors walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 86-79 when they faced CSU Fullerton. When talking about rebounds, Cal State Northridge permitted CSU Fullerton to pull down 36 in total (6 on the offensive side). They finished the game shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc by shooting 11 of 27 and walked away from this one shooting 19 of 28 from the free throw line (67.9%). The Matadors permitted CSU Fullerton to bury 28 out of their 60 tries from the field which gave them a percentage of 46.7% for the contest. When the final whistle was blown, the Matadors went 32 out of 69 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.4%. Concerning shooting from beyond the arc, Cal State Northridge made 9 out of 27 tries (33.3%). They were able to bury 6 of them for a percentage of 37.5%. CSU Fullerton committed 18 personal fouls for the matchup which took the Matadors to the charity stripe for 16 shots. They turned it over 14 times, while earning 6 steals for the matchup. The Matadors were able to collect 26 defensive boards and 9 offensive rebounds for a total of 35 in this matchup.

Joshua O'Garro ended up having an impact for the Matadors for the game. He converted 11 of 17 for the game for a field goal rate of 64.7%, and accumulated 13 rebounds. He earned 28 points in his 39 minutes of playing time and earned 6 dimes for this game.

Cal State Northridge has a win-loss mark of 10-8 so far this season. When it comes to offensive execution, the Matadors are hitting on 44.9% from the field, which ranks 215th in college hoops. Cal State Northridge has scored 1,456 points on the year (80.9 per contest) and they average 41.5 rebounds per game. They are dishing out assists 16.9 times per contest (58th in college hoops) and they are turning it over 13.8 times per game. The Matadors are responsible for committing 18.2 fouls per game and they connect on 66.8% from the charity stripe.

The Matadors on the defensive end are ranked 312th in college in points per game surrendered with 79.3. They are able to force 12.6 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 42.4% from the field (123rd in the nation). The Cal State Northridge defense allows 33.9% on shots from 3-point land (183 of 540) and opponents are connecting on 76.6% of their free throw attempts. They have conceded 15.1 assists and 35.2 total boards per game, which ranks 287th and 223rd in those defensive categories.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Long Beach State

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