Saturday, March 8th, 7:05 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Walter Pyramid (5,000) -- Long Beach, California. Television: None. Home Record: UCSB 11-3, Long Beach St. 5-7. Away Record: UCSB 9-4, Long Beach St. 1-15. Neutral Record: UCSB 2-0, Long Beach St. 0-1. Conference Record: UCSB 11-4, Long Beach St. 3-12. Series Record: Long Beach State leads, 52-50.

GAME NOTES: A No. 1 seed for the Big West Conference Tournament is on the line for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, as they visit Walter Pyramid to take on the Long Beach State 49ers. There is a logjam atop the conference standings, though the Gauchos have the tiebreakers in their favor and can finish no lower than third place with a loss. A victory would set a school-record for wins in a season. UCSB has won six straight conference road games. As for the 49ers, many of their struggles have come on the road where they've lost 15 of 16 games this season. The 49ers were knocked off by Cal Poly at home on Thursday night, 68-62. It was the team's sixth straight loss overall. Long Beach State has a 52-50 lead in the head-to-head series with UCSB, although the Gauchos won by 15 when the teams last met on January 3rd.

UCSB shot the lights out in the first half of Thursday night's win over Cal State Northridge, and it was a good thing because the Gauchos hung on to win despite making just six field goals in the second half. Then again, they got 21 points from the foul line over the final minutes, while holding Northridge to 36 percent shooting in the period. Alex Harris paced UCSB with 25 points, followed by Ivan Elliott with 16. James Powell chipped in with 12 points, and Chris Devine finished with 10. Harris is among the premier players in the Big West, as evidenced by his 20.3 ppg. Powell and Devine are each tallying 12 ppg in a supporting role.

The 49ers struggled to find the bottom of the net on Thursday, as they shot just 37.3 percent from the floor and went on to lose by six. Arturas Lazdauskas led the way with 15 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Maurice Clady ran the show with seven assists and 11 points, while Brandon Johnson provided a spark with 12 points off the bench. One silver lining in the 49ers loss was that they shot a marksman-like 18-of-21 from the foul line. Of course, it didn't help that leading scorer Donovan Morris went just 1-of-12 from the field and finished with a mere seven points. He has more or less been a one-man show this season with 20.6 ppg. Three other 49ers are averaging seven ppg.

With a top seed at stake, don't expect the Gauchos to overlook the lowly 49ers. Then again, don't expect Long Beach State to lay over in its final home game of the season. Still, UCSB should be able to wrap up that top spot with a balanced effort.

Predicted Outcome

UC Santa Barbara 81, Long Beach State 70