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Two of the best teams in the country will collide in the second semifinal of the Pac-12 tournament on Friday night when Steve Alford’s No. 3 seed UCLA Bruins lock horns with Sean Miller’s No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats. These teams split their regular season meetings with both clubs earning wins on their opponent’s home floors. There’s no love lost between these two programs, so Sin City is in for a treat to close out the festivities.
At 11:30 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Friday, March 10, 2017, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on Friday’s college basketball schedule.
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The UCLA Bruins have lost a grand total of three games this season. That amounts to the fewest in the conference. One of those losses occurred to the USC Trojans whom they just beat for a second straight time on Thursday night, but had to hold on for dear life to do so. Since dropping 98 points on the Huskies back on March 1, the offense has been pretty bad for UCLA standards. It’s shot less than 45 percent in its last two games and failed to reach the 80-point plateau in each. It’s been a godsend for under bettors who saw the under cash for the fifth straight time and eighth in the last ninth in the 76-74 win over the Trojans. The Bruins are undefeated on neutral courts to date.
Arizona only lost four games in the regular season and is currently set up to avenge the two most recent ones with this date with the Bruins followed by a likely matchup with Oregon should they reach the finals. Sean Miller’s squad owns a 16-14-2 overall record against the spread, and enters this tilt having covered two straight and three of four with the lone defeat coming in the form of the five point setback at home to tonight’s opponent. Colorado had them on the ropes last night, but the offense erupted for 54 points in the second half to lead the team to the 92-78 win and cover as 8 point favorites. The Wildcats check in 4-2 straight up and 3-3 against the spread on neutral courts.
Last Meeting
The Wildcats looked to be on their way towards sweeping the season rivalry back on February 25 with it controlling the proceedings through one half of play to hold a 43-39 lead at the break. Unfortunately, Zona’s offense went into the tank in the second half which allowed UCLA to take advantage. Bryce Alford knocked down a couple backbreaking 3 balls in the last stages of the game to allow the Bruins to leave the desert with the 77-72 victory in tow. Arizona converted 51 percent of its shots from the field, but it got killed on the offensive glass 12-3 which allowed for UCLA to convert on a number of crucial second chance scoring opportunities.
Players to Watch
After combining for 21 rebounds and 41 points in the first meeting, the trio of Lauri Markkanen, Dusan Ristic and Allonzo Trier failed to deliver in the second go round. While they still combined for 41 points, 28 of them came from Trier with the other 13 coming from the bigs. On top of that, they only combined for 13 rebounds which was one of the reasons why UCLA was able to have its way on the offensive glass. The last thing you want to do is give the top ranked shooting and scoring offense multiple looks at the basket. Should that happen again, the Bruins will likely have an easier time punching its ticket to the title game.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
Great offense beats great defense every day of the week and twice on Friday night! Arizona has a nice team, but it’s simply just not up to snuff in this matchup. The Wildcats caught the Bruins off guard in the first meeting with Trier making his first appearance of the season. Him being on the court added another weapon they didn’t account for, and it allowed for Kobi Simmons and Rawle Akins to have big games. They made adjustments in the revenge match in the desert, and though Trier went off, nobody else really hurt them offensively with the next highest scorer being Markkanen with 10.
UCLA’s defense has gotten much better since it last lost back on January 25. Since then, it’s only allowed an average of 70.9 points over its last 10 games. That’s 3.1 points better than its seasonal average, and when you pair that improvement with an offense that looked to be saving a little for this matchup last night, only good things can happen. Arizona came out on top the last time these clubs met in the Pac-12 tourney a few years back, but it will have its hands full trying to take a second straight game this time around.
College Basketball Odds: UCLA 79, Arizona 75
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