Gameday: at UC Santa Barbara

A top-four finish in the Big West Conference means you have to win a fair share of games on the road.

UH can make it three in a row away from home if it can best UC Santa Barbara at the 5,600-seat Thunderdome today.

You’d expect the home crowd to be scattered; the Gauchos are mired in a nightmare season at 3-20 overall (1-10 Big West). UH (12-12, 6-5), meanwhile, is back to full strength with Leland Green coming off his three-game illness absence and is feeling well motivated coming off a 12-point home loss to UC Irvine.

The game is being streamed at BigWest.TV.

UCSB is reeling, having lost leading scorer Gabe Vincent to an ACL tear since the last meeting, a 22-point UH win in which Noah Allen racked up a career-high 34 points. That’s to go with two frontcourt players of starting caliber that were lost at semester break due to academic ineligibility.

Of course, you can never underestimate a team on its home court. And weird things have a way of happening when UH plays UCSB at the Thunderdome.

UH is a road favorite for the first time this season, at plus-5.5.