UCLA Bruins (30-5, 18-2 Pac-12) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (22-11, 12-8 Big Ten)
- Date: Saturday, Mar. 19, 2022
- Start Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
- Location: Golden 1 Center – Sacramento, CA
- Coverage:'TNT
- Last Meeting: November 29, 2013 – UCLA defeated Northwestern 95-79 in Las Vegas.
- Moneyline: UCLA: (-360) | NW: (+280)
- Point Spread: UCLA: -6.5 (-120) | NW: +6.5 (-102)
- Total: 127.5 – Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)
- UCLA 2022-23 Betting Trends: 21-12-2 ATS; 17-18 to the Over
- Northwestern 2022-23 Betting Trends: 20-13 ATS; 13-19-1 to the Over
- UCLA is 5-0-1 ATS in its last six games.
- UCLA is 4-0-1 ATS in its last five neutral site games.
- The Over is 5-1 in UCLA’s last six games against teams with a winning percentage over .600.
- Northwestern is 5-1 ATS in its last six games following a SU win.
- Northwestern is 8-3 ATS in its last 11 games overall.
- The Over is 3-1-1 in Northwestern’s last five games overall.
This is a fascinating matchup of a UCLA team playing in its 50th NCAA Tournament (fourth-most tournament appearances all-time) against a Northwestern team that has appeared in just one other NCAA Tournament (2017) in school history. At DraftKings, UCLA is the betting favorite to win the West Region despite being the No. 2 seed (+260), while Northwestern has the fifth-lowest odds of the 12 teams remaining at +3000.
Northwestern is battle-tested from the rugged Big Ten that sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament this year. The Big Ten standings were so jumbled that the Wildcats ascended to the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with a road win in the regular season finale against Rutgers, while a loss in that game would have dropped them to ninth in the standings. Northwestern has alternated wins and losses for the last four games and has three separate five-game winning streaks this season.