The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos will take on the UC Davis Aggies in a Big West battle in Anaheim Thursday. The Gauchos are hot, coming in as winners of eight straight, but I think they are asked to cover an inflated spread here against an Aggies team that is quite competitive. My money is on the Aggies.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Previous History - The Aggies have lost four of their last five overall, but all of those losses were close. They covered the spread in all five of those games. The last time these two teams played, the Aggies lost 62-55 at Santa Barbara, easily covering a double-digit spread.

2. Josh Fox - The Aggies leading scorer is coming off a massive 20-point (nine rebounds) performance in an overtime win at CS Northridge. He scored 19 points in a home loss to Hawaii in the Aggies previous game, and after finishing the season strong we can expect him to be big here in the conference tournament.

3. X-Factor - UC Davis has allowed opponents to average just over 65 points per game this season, ranking among the nations leaders on defense.

Selection: This is a play on the UC Davis Aggies (10*)