Sykes leads Long Beach State against UCSB after 30-point performance

Long Beach State Beach (2-6) at UCSB Gauchos (6-2)

Santa Barbara, California; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Long Beach State visits UCSB after Gavin Sykes scored 30 points in Long Beach State's 76-72 win over the San Diego Toreros.

The Gauchos have gone 3-1 in home games. UCSB ranks sixth in the Big West in rebounding with 34.3 rebounds. Zion Sensley leads the Gauchos with 7.5 boards.

The Beach have gone 0-4 away from home. Long Beach State has a 0-2 record in one-possession games.

UCSB scores 80.4 points per game, 4.5 more points than the 75.9 Long Beach State gives up. Long Beach State averages 6.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.1 fewer makes per game than UCSB allows.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Miro Little is shooting 49.1% and averaging 13.0 points for the Gauchos. Colin Smith is averaging 2.3 made 3-pointers.

Sykes is scoring 14.8 points per game and averaging 4.0 rebounds for the Beach. Petar Majstorovic is averaging 12.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.