The Long Island Sharks take on the UCLA Bruins. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Long Island UCLA prediction and pick. Find how to watch Long Island UCLA.

The UCLA Bruins have a very new look this season. After multiple years with a distinguished veteran core which gave coach Mick Cronin a lot of continuity and consistency on the court, UCLA has a decidedly different roster in this 2023-2024 campaign. The Bruins have three European imports — Berke Buyuktuncel, Aday Mara, and Jan Vide — whom Cronin will try to integrate into the rest of his lineup. Dylan Andrews, Will McClendon, Adem Bona, and Sebastian Mack are other primary rotation players expected to make significant contributions to the Bruins this season. It will be fascinating to see how Cronin brings this team along and integrates the various pieces of the roster. Will this team have the same upside and potential of Arizona, or will the Bruins be little better than a fourth- or fifth-place team in a top-heavy Pac-12? Cronin deserves the benefit of the doubt, given his 2021 Final Four run and his general ability to get UCLA high NCAA Tournament seeds and top-tier Pac-12 finishes, but every new year is a different challenge, and this one is not exactly a simple one for the Bruins.

Here are the Long Island-UCLA College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Long Island-UCLA Odds

Long Island Sharks: +34.5 (-110)

UCLA Bruins: -34.5 (-110)

Over: 141.5 (-115)

Under: 141.5 (-105)

How To Watch Long Island vs UCLA

Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT

TV: Pac-12 Network

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Long Island Could Cover the Spread

The Sharks are not a very good team, but this is a really, really big point spread. Long Island could lose by 33 and still cover. UCLA might not be especially focused in this game, and before you say that such a claim could apply to any team in the country, keep in mind that UCLA trailed Lafayette by six points late in the first half last week before uncorking a 24-2 scoring surge. UCLA could drift through the first half once again, and this time, if there's no 24-2 scoring run — the kind of thing one should not expect to happen on a regular basis — Long Island can trail by 10 to 15 points midway through the second half. If that is the scenario we get in this game, the Sharks are likely to lose by no more than 25 to 28 points. UCLA, if leading by around 15 to 20 points with seven or eight minutes left, will want to put its backups into the game and get them meaningful minutes while the starters rest. UCLA would be unlikely to find enough offensive firepower and defensive excellence to win this game by 35 points or more. The math would work against the Bruins here.

Why UCLA Could Cover the Spread

The Long Island Sharks are not a good team. They're 0-2, and that's against Air Force and Pepperdine, which is not exactly a cutthroat schedule. More than that, Long Island lost to Pepperdine — a team not expected to finish in the top five of the West Coast Conference — by 35 points. If Long Island is losing by 35 to Pepperdine, it should lose by more than 35 to UCLA, a team which should be a top-four seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and which should finish in the top four of the Pac-12. The Bruins started slowly against Lafayette last week. They do not figure to start slowly for a second straight home game.

Final Long Island-UCLA Prediction & Pick

This one seems pretty clear-cut. If Long Island can lose to Pepperdine by 35, it will lose to UCLA by at least 35 if not more. Take UCLA.

Final Long Island-UCLA Prediction & Pick: UCLA -34.5