Basketball Game Preview: Irvine Vaqueros vs. Northwood Timberwolves

Irvine and Northwood are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2021, but not for long. The Irvine Vaqueros will head out to square off against the Northwood Timberwolves at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Irvine will be strutting in after a win while Northwood will be coming in after a loss.

Irvine is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past University 61-35 on Friday. The matchup was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Vaqueros had established a 22 point advantage.

Meanwhile, Northwood was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They received a blow as they fell 46-29 to Laguna Beach. While losing is never fun, the Timberwolves can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 903rd, while the Breakers are ranked 413th).

Northwood's loss dropped their record down to 4-18. As for Irvine, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-9 record this season.

Irvine was able to grind out a solid victory over Northwood in their previous matchup last Friday, winning 51-38. The rematch might be a little tougher for Irvine since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.