Take The Better Team In Pac-12 Battle

Arizona vs. UCLA, 9:30 ET

It happened again, yesterday. I once again went 1-1 and continued my run of averageness. While 1-1 isn't terrible, it isn't the success we've had in the past. I am looking to try and grab a few units before we get to these conference tournaments, but we are starting to run out of time. College hoops has been a profitable endeavor for us this season, but stretches like this just kind of blind/ante away our bankroll and it can be rather frustrating. We still need to push through though and continue to drive for some success. Tonight, we put a play on a game between Arizona and UCLA and hopefully it can be a completely winning night for us. 

Arizona comes into the game with the fifth rank in the nation. They have an outside shot at getting a #1 seed in the tournament depending on how they do in the conference tournament. Obviously, a lot is still to be determined with that, but they have set themselves up for success. Over the past 10 games, the Wildcats are 9-1. The one loss was at home against Washington State, one of the more surprising teams in the Pac-12. This was also the first home loss of the season for Arizona. On the road, they've lost three games to Pac-12 opponents. The losses came against Oregon State, Washington State, and Stanford. All of the losses were reasonably close, with the worst coming against Stanford, an eight-point loss. They've been competitive in all of their games if we are being realistic. I'm interested to see how they perform in this one on the road, their second to last game of the regular season. The team relies on Caleb Love to do the majority of scoring work for them, and he does it well, scoring 19.4 points per game. Peele Larsson and Oumar Ballo provide additional strong scoring options for the team. Ballo is one of few that are averaging double-doubles in the country. The team has five guys averaging double digits in scoring, but they still are pretty balanced with an 8-9 person rotation that are all contributing to the wins. 

UCLA had higher expectations than this. If they make the NCAA tournament it will be as a rather low seed or it won't happen at all. I'm not sure that they deserve it. Realistically, they are 14-15 now and if they lose the next two games they end the season under .500. Maybe they will be able to make some noise in the conference tournament. Right now, they have lost four straight games so they aren't in great form. The first two losses, at home against Utah and USC, were close enough losing by a combined seven points. However, the next two weren't close as they lost to Washington by 17 and Washington State by 12. This loss comes on the heels of a six-game winning streak, and is the third time they've lost at least four games in a row this season. The team has four guys that are averaging double-digits on the season, with three of them being guards. They have very little to speak of in the front court and that will be an area of concern tonight as they will have to find a way to stop Ballo. Their backcourt balancing the scoring of Love and the rest of the Wildcats guards should be possible. 

This is not a great matchup for UCLA. They should get a bit of a boost now that they are back on their home court, but they haven't played very well lately which is the biggest concern that I have. In the first matchup, the Bruins lost in Arizona 77-71. The Bruins jumped out to an early lead and the Wildcats struggled in the first half before absolutely dominating them in the second half. The line is showing that the books think the Wildcats will win by more this time, and I have to agree. I'll take Arizona -8.5 in this one. 

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