No. 7 UCLA hosts California in a Pac-12 matchup Thursday night! It's time to continue our college basketball odds series with a California-UCLA prediction and pick.
California comes into this game (9-10) on the season and (2-6) in the conference. They are one of four teams with a losing record in the Pac-12 which puts them 10th. They are coming off of a blowout loss to No. 3 Arizona 96-71 and have lost five-straight games. This is going to be a very difficult game for them.
UCLA is coming off of a huge win over Arizona Tuesday night. As a matter of fact, I was in attendance for that matchup where UCLA controlled the entire game against the Wildcats. They shot the lights out and won 75-59 giving fits to the Wildcats all night long. The Bruins improve to (14-2) on the season and with a win today, they should jump into the top-5 in the rankings. UCLA is (6-1) in the Pac-12.
Here are the California-UCLA college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: California-UCLA Odds
California: +15.5 (-110)
UCLA: -15.5 (-110)
Over: 131 (-102)
Under: 131 (-120)
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Why California Could Cover The Spread
The Golden Bears have a chance to cover this spread but it's not going to be an easy one. There is likely no chance they win this game, especially with how well the Bruins are playing. So what California needs to do is they need to defend at a high level. UCLA scores very easily and they have multiple options to do so. Johnny Juzang averages 18 points per game and they have three others who average double digits. California does not score the ball well averaging only 65 points per game. It's their defensive efforts that keep them in games and that is what it will take to cover this spread.
The Golden Bears can't let the Bruins get out to a huge early lead or else they are going to run away with it. Jordan Shepard averages 14.7 points per game for Berkeley and he will need to be on his game tonight if they want a chance to cover.
Why UCLA Could Cover The Spread
UCLA will win this game but if they want to cover they will need to play exactly how they did against Arizona. UCLA shot the ball well against the Wildcats but they won the game with their defense. They forced Arizona to take bad shots and as a result of that forced them to miss the easy shots as well. They rattled them so hard that Arizona ended the game shooting 30% from the field. The Bruins also attacked the paint more often than not and their game plan worked as they knocked off a top-3 opponent. The Bruins will need to play a similar game and hope that California doesn't try and keep this close game.
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Final California-UCLA Prediction & Pick
I'm taking UCLA to cover this spread. It's a large one but they are able to get it done. They are just 7-8-1 against the spread, however, but a majority of that is because they have been favored by a ton of points. UCLA is hot and I think they will win this game comfortably.
Final California-UCLA Prediction & Pick: UCLA -15.5 (-110)
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