UCLA goes on the road to play a familiar opponent but this time in conference play.
Let's first look closer at the resumes of the two teams playing in the featured Fox Friday night game.
Overall Record: 11-4 Big Ten Record: 1-3
Team's Rankings: Net: #23 KenPom: #24 EvanMiya: #24 Barttorvik: #20 BPI: #23
Significant wins this season: Villanova (76-75) in the Saatva Empire Classic, Ohio State (83-59), and Syracuse (87-60) in the Nutrafol Gotham Classic.
Defeats this season: Marquette (74-78), @ Purdue (78-83), @ Washington (69-75), and @ Oregon (79-83).
Overall Record: 11-4 overall and Big Ten Record: 2-2
Team's Rankings: NET: #27, KenPom: #28, EvanMiya: #29, Barttorvik: #24, and BPI: #31
Significant wins this season: Washington (69-58), Arizona (57-54) in the Hall of Fame Rivalry, @ Oregon (73-71), and Gonzaga (65-62) in the West Coast Hoops Showdown.
Losses this season: New Mexico (64-72) on a neutral court, North Carolina (74-74) in the CBS Sports Classic, @ Nebraska (58-66), and Michigan (75-94).
The history between these two basketball programs.
All-time records of both teams when playing each other: UCLA 3-2 and Maryland 2-3
Recent meetings between these two teams: Two seasons ago they played in College Park, MD, and the Bruins won by a final score of 87-60 in a dominant win by UCLA. However, last season at Pauley Pavilion, Maryland defeated the Bruins by nine, with the final score being 60-69.
Other past meetings between the Bruins and Terrapins over the years: They first played each other on the basketball court in 1998, when both teams participated in the Puerto Rico Shootout. Maryland won that game on a neutral court by a final score of 70-54. UCLA in the 2000 NCAA Tournament defeated Maryland by a large margin in the second round of the tournament, beating the Terrapins, 105-70. The Bruins in 2007 played Maryland in the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic and defeated the Terrapins by a final score of 71-59.
Prediction for this game between Maryland and UCLA.
UCLA and the surrounding Los Angeles community have their thoughts on the devastating Southern California wildfires at this time. Hopefully this game will provide a brief escape from what is occurring now, where people are losing their homes and personal belongings to these tragic wildfires. The Bruins will do their best to secure a road victory on Maryland's home court and head coach Mick Cronin was very vocal after the Bruins loss against Michigan and the hope is the players respond in a positive way to secure a much-needed victory for UCLA in Big Ten play.
This game will not be easy for UCLA, as Maryland has only lost one home game this season, and that was back in mid-November to No. 7 ranked Marquette. However, the Bruins are not looking to lose three straight games and it is unlikely that they will shoot as badly as they have from beyond the arc as they have done the past two games. They should have all available players ready for this game unlike the Nebraska game and the Bruins pull off the win by a final score of 72-70.