Here is a look at each team's resume entering this game.
Penn State Nittany Lions Overall Record: 13-10 Big Ten Record: 3-9
Rankings among various metric-based analytical sites: Net: #60 KenPom: #57 EvanMiya: #66 Barttorvik: #72 BPI: #55
Quality victories this season: Virginia Tech (86-64), Purdue Fort Wayne (102-89), Purdue (81-70), Northwestern (84-80), and Rutgers (80-72).
This season, Quad one and two defeats: Clemson (67-75) in the Sunshine Slam—Beach, @ Rutgers (76-80), Indiana (71-77), @ Illinois (52-91), Oregon (81-82), @ Michigan State (85-90), @ Iowa (75-76), @ Michigan (72-76), Ohio State (64-83), and Minnesota (61-69).
UCLA Bruins Overall Record: 17-6 Big Ten Record: 8-4 Rankings among various metric-based analytical sites: NET: #26, KenPom: #28, EvanMiya: #31, Barttorvik: #21, and BPI: #28
Quality victories this season: Washington (69-58), Arizona (57-54) in the Hall of Fame Rivalry, @ Oregon (73-71), Gonzaga (65-62) in the West Coast Hoops Showdown, Iowa (94-70), Wisconsin (85-83), @ Washington (65-60), Oregon (78-52), Michigan State (63-61).
This season, Quad one and two defeats: New Mexico (64-72) on a neutral court, North Carolina (74-74) in the CBS Sports Classic, @ Nebraska (58-66), Michigan (75-94), @ Maryland (61-79), and @ Rutgers (68-75).
A look at how both teams are playing coming into this game.
Penn State is struggling in 2025. In November and December of this season, the Nittany Lions were 12-2 entering their game against Indiana on January 5th. Penn State has lost eight of their last nine games. Some of those losses were single-digit defeats to Oregon, Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa. Of those six single-digit losses, two of them were one-point defeats.
UCLA is entering this game having won six straight games. Like Penn State, from mid-November to mid-December, the Bruins won nine straight games. The Bruins did have a stretch of games where they lost five of six games before they went on their winning streak.
Prediction for the game.
UCLA is playing Penn State at the right time and with this game being at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins should win this game by a comfortable margin. UCLA wins this game by a final score of 79-62 for their seventh straight victory.