No. 22 ranked UCLA hosts No. 24 Michigan as the Bruins and Wolverines are both contenders to win the Big Ten regular season title this year.
The UCLA Bruins (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) are slight favorites at home against the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines (11-3, 3-0 Big Ten). However, Michigan played well on the road, defeating USC three days before this game. They beat the Trojans by 11 and were led by 21 points by Danny Wolf.
On the other hand, UCLA went on the road and lost to Nebraska by eight in a low-scoring game. Tyler Bilodeau led the Bruins with 15 points in the loss. UCLA was without their second-leading scorer, Eric Dailey Jr., and big man William Kyle III.
UCLA has played very well on their home court and has an eight-game home winning streak. Michigan is coming into this game with a three-game winning streak and is undefeated in actual road games, having defeated Wisconsin and USC.
The hope is that Dailey Jr. will be back for this game, as Michigan's strength is their frontcourt play led by Wolf and Vladislav Goldin. The Bruins aim to improve their three-point shooting performance, given that they only converted four of their twenty-four three-point attempts against Nebraska.
Here is a look at both teams resumes entering this game.
Overall Record: 13-3 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten
Team Rankings: NET: #14, KenPom: #13, EvanMiya: #11, Barttorvik: #12, and BPI: #19
Key wins this season: TCU (101-53), Virginia Tech (75-63) in the Fort Myers Tip-Off—Beach Division, @ Wisconsin (67-64), Xavier (78-53) in the Fort Myers Tip-Off—Beach Division, Iowa (85-83), and @ USC (85-74).
Losses this season: Wake Forest (70-72) in the Deacon-Wolverine Challenge, Arkansas (87-89) in the Jimmy V Classic, and Oklahoma (86-87) in the Jumpman Invitational.
Overall Record: 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten
Team Rankings: NET: #18, KenPom: #20, EvanMiya: #21, Barttorvik: #18, and BPI: #26
Key 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, and @ Nebraska (58-66).
Prediction for this game between UCLA and Michigan.
This will be a very competitive game against a defensively minded team in UCLA and a Michigan team averaging just under 91 points over their last six games. This game being played on the Bruin's home court is a huge advantage in what should be a very close game. The final score prediction is UCLA 75 Michigan 73.