UCLA opens NCAA tournament today with matchup against UCF

UCLA will face UCF today in a No. 7 versus No. 10 matchup. This is everything UCLA has worked for this entire season. Now everything comes down to the NCAA tournament. There is no more. We will figure it out later. You win and you move on, you lose, and you go home. Games are now or never. The Bruins battled inconsistency for 90% of the season but have started to pick it up as of late. They had a really good showing in the Big Ten tournament before injuries decimated them against Purdue.

Now they should be back fully healthy today with a full roster. They will need to pick up where they left off when they upset Michigan State in the tournament. This is a team that had five top 10 wins this season. Showing that they can play with some of the best teams in the nation. Michigan State and Nebraska both looked really good yesterday. Those are two teams that UCLA absolutely dominated.

UCF comes into the tournament, losers of four or five games. They were able to squeak by Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament before a 22-point loss to Arizona. UCLA will need to jump out of the gates early and keep their foot on the pedal.  UCF gives up 78.5 points per game on the season. The Bruins will need to attack that and if they can make this a defensive battle, they should be able to run away with the game. Mick Cronin has seen this team turn a corner on the defensive end over the last month.

Offensively Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent returning from injuries will be huge for this team. Dent controls the entire offense as the floor general. Bilodeau is the leading scorer at 17.6 points per game and can score from all levels. We expect the Bruins to pick up where they left off from the Michigan State game, which was the last game they had their starting lineup. As the Bruins look to go on a Cinderella run.

Prediction: UCLA 84 - UCF 71