PAC-12 CONFERENCE MATCHUP
UCLA BRUINS (+2.5) VS CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
Tonight at 9PM EST the ULCA Bruins (18-6) will take on the California Golden Bears (14-9) at Haas Pavilion. California is looking to improve their 7-4 home record this season while UCLA with a win would put themselves into a tie for first in the PAC-12 conference.
The Golden Bears are looking to carry momentum into this game after knocking off #7 Arizona at home less than a week ago. But I don’t expect the Bruins to go down without a fight, they enter this game on a two game win streak. In any case this game is going to be a nail biter as the two most prolific scorers on the PAC-12 meet up. It will be a battle of the guards as junior Allen Crabbe (19.8 PPG) takes on freshman Shabazz Muhammad (18.4 PPG). Both these guys will be on full display tonight when this game takes off, but I expect the difference to be UCLA’s depth. California is averaging 68.2 points per game offensively, ranking them 149th in the nation. As for the Bruins, they are 28th scoring 76 points per game. Indicating that if UCLA can shut down Crabbe, it is going to hurt California more since he accounts for 30% of their offense. While Muhammad contributes only 24% of the Bruins scoring, and evidence that UCLA has more depth on their roster when it comes to scoring.
The ace in the sleeve for this game is Larry Drew II. He is one of the smartest decision making point guards in the country. In his senior year he is leading not only the Bruins but also the PAC-12 with 7.8 assists per game, and an 4.4 assist/turnover ratio. Watch for the Drew -> Muhammad connection tonight.
UCLA will extend their win streak to three games tonight. Experience and profound depth of the Bruins proves too much for California to handle. Rendering the Golden Bears to 7-5 record when playing at home this season.
TRENDS
UCLA
- 20-8 against the spread as an underdog of 3 points or less in the last 3 years
- 21-15 straight up against California since 1997
- 12-6 straight up in their last 18 games playing California
CALIFORNIA
- 3-6 against the spread when playing at home against UCLA in the last 9 games
- 0-5 against the spread this season when the total is between 140-149.5
- 6-9 against the spread when playing a team with a winning record this season
FINAL SCORE – BRUINS 74 – GOLDEN BEARS 68