Uc Riverside Highlanders

The Highlanders were underdogs 26 times in 2025-26 and covered exactly half of those spreads, 13. Backing UC Riverside to win cost 10.69 units over 28 priced games; only 41 Division I teams lost more.

Covering, not winning

UC Riverside finished 10-22, and the spread treated them almost evenly: 14 covers and 15 misses. The trouble for anyone backing them outright is that six underdog wins in 26 games were not enough to pay for the rest; the 25 priced underdog games lost 9.03 units. Only 23 Division I teams were underdogs more often.

The wins that paid came at good prices: at San Diego 85-71 at +270, at Cal Poly 88-84 at +205, and against Cal State Northridge at home, 95-84 at +180.

Road record

Away from home the Highlanders went 3-15, and a unit on each of the 17 priced road games lost 8.15. They still covered 9 of 18 there, several of them in heavy defeats: at New Mexico 82-68 as 19.5-point underdogs, at UC Irvine 73-60 at +13.5, at St. Thomas 92-78 at +14.5. At home they were 7-7 with 5 covers in 11.

The bad stretch

From the Cal Poly rematch on 31 January to UC Santa Barbara on 26 February the Highlanders won one game in eight, beating Cal State Bakersfield 93-65, and the moneyline lost 6.66 units. The Cal Poly game, 94-87, was one of only three in which they were favored.

Opponents and the total

Hawai’i won both meetings, 88-45 and 93-74, and covered both. UC San Diego also won twice, but UC Riverside covered each time, as it did twice against Cal State Bakersfield. The Highlanders’ games went over 16 times and under 14; they allowed 77.88 points a game, and only 69 Division I teams gave up more.

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