Free Daily NCAAB Lock Pick, Wednesday January 10th: Washington State vs USC 10:30pm ET
CLICK TO SEE PICK NOW
The Pac-12 continues in what is likely their final season with a game on Thursday between the UCLA Bruins (6-9, 1-3 Pac-12) and the Utah Utes (11-4, 2-2 Pac-12). UCLA is coming off a tough home loss, going down to California 66-57, and losing outright as 6.5-point favorites. Utah just had a tough road tip in Arizona, losing the the #10 Wildcats in their last game 92-73 as 12.5-point underdogs. UCLA won both matchups against Utah last season. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 EST from the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, and can be found on ESPN2.
If you are struggling to pick winners, you've come to the right place. We have the best NCAAB Predictions available.
The once mighty UCLA Bruins have taken a significant step back this season. In terms of overall wins, they are second to last in the Pac-12, as they have only won six games, ahead of only California who has just five. To make matters worse, Cal just defeated the Bruins on their own home floor. There is talent at UCLA, but they need to bring it together quickly. They split their road games against the teams in Oregon, then surprisingly lost a homestand against Stanford and Cal. In the Cal game, UCLA was led by guard Sebastian Mack with 20 points in the loss.
UCLA is led in scoring by 6'3 freshman guard Sebastian Mack at 14.3 PPG. Mack had 20 points against Cal and 14 against Stanford in their recent homestand. Mack attacks the basket more than he settles for threes, he leads the team with 91 free throw attempts, and has only made 11 threes on the season. Adem Bona is a 6'10 sophomore with NBA potential, NBADraft.net currently has him going as a second round pick in the upcoming draft. Bona is averaging 12.5 PPG and 6.8 RPG and is a strong rim protector. Dylan Andrews is a 6'2 sophomore guard adding 10.6 PPG and 3.6 APG. Lazar Stefanovic is the top shooter on the team, the 6'7 guard has 17 made threes on the year, but is shooting just 28.8% from deep. Stefanovic adds 9.1 PPG and 5.6 RPG.
UCLA is currently ranked 108th overall according to KenPom. They are much better at defense where they rank 37th in the nation in efficiency, while they rank way back at 217th in offensive efficiency. The Bruins play Mick Cronin's offensive style, which is slow, as they rank 327th in the nation in pace of play.