When UCLA gets to their 30th game of the season. They will enter a stretch of their last two games that could decide their fate for March Madness. There are a ton of factors that are going to be in play by this time. But a matchup with No. 5 Nebraska will be a big one for UCLA. The Bruins will either have an impressive resume with a few upsets. Or they will be reeling into the finish trying to scrap together some last few wins. If they can get to 20 wins, that would be a positive.
Nebraska being good is incredible for college basketball
— Cole Adams (@coleadamss) February 1, 2026
Pinnacle Bank sounds like the loudest arena I’ve heard all season
For the Bruins to get to 20 wins, they would need to go 5-4 in the last nine games of the season. That sounds very easy to do but consider considering they have four top 10 opponents and USC twice. It’s easier said than done. This team is going to have to really dig deep and by the time they get to this game, it could be do or die for them. You do not want to go into the Big Ten tournament as a low seed. The conference is very deep and that road would be brutal.
UCLA is currently 15-7 on the season. Which could easily be 16-6 if they didn’t drop their game against Indiana on Saturday afternoon. We have no idea what team we are going to see by the 30th game of the season. UCLA has been able to show glimpses of what they can be such as the upset over Purdue. But we have also seen them play down to opponents and lose games that they should’ve won. Culminating in a disappointing first 22 games also leaving questions on the true identity of this team.
“At the end of the day, I’m just proud of how we fought. We sent a good team to double overtime, and I'm glad we fought through that. Unfortunately, we were on the other end of the game and we lost.”
— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) February 1, 2026
UCLA sophomore Trent Perry, speaking after the Bruins’ loss pic.twitter.com/xuEHo9nk5k
Nebraska is a very good team. They are currently 20-2 on the season, after losing a matchup with Illinois this afternoon. The Big Ten is absolutely loaded and are beating up on each other. It is the most fun conference to watch with so many teams in play. They could easily have the most teams make the March tournament. With multiple teams being in contention to win it all. Hopefully UCLA can make it into that mix.