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The Utah Utes are looking to break a losing streak when they head to LA to take on the UCLA Bruins on Thursday night. Utah lost to both Arizona schools last week. The loss to the Wildcats was a little more out of this team’s reach, but the Utes were in there every step of the way against Arizona State this weekend. As for UCLA, the Bruins continue to pick up easy wins against the easier teams in the PAC 12 North and are looking to move to 4-1 in conference play.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, January 11, 2018, at 11 p.m. ET at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Thursday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Under has been a great bet in Utah games throughout the season. The Utes have a very good defense, and a marginal offense, and that has led to many of their games finishing south of the total this year. Five of their last six games have gone under the total.
UCLA is trying to just concentrate on the season, but the Ball family continues to be a major distraction. Even after LiAngelo was kicked off of the Bruins, they are getting asked non-stop about his status and whether or not he will ever play for the program.
The Bruins have been one of the better teams to wager on lately. Although they fell to Stanford in overtime on the road, they have covered four of their last five at this point. The streak started off with a win against Kentucky, where UCLA won outright as a 6.5-point underdog.
Matchup to Watch
Utah is going to have a whale of a time stopping Thomas Welsh in this one. Welsh has had a fantastic year, averaging a double-double per outing thus far. He is a seven-footer with some weight to him, and he isn’t afraid to throw it around. Additionally, he is a terrific shooter and must be guarded if he decides to step outside the arc.
It will be interesting to see how the Utes go about trying to stop him. Utah has two big men that do most of the work down low in Tyler Rawson and Donnie Tillman. These two are the team’s leading rebounders, but have different body types. Rawson is a tall, lanky kid that doesn’t always play up to his weight. Meanwhile, Tillman is an undersized power forward that hauls in boards because of his motor and tenacity on the glass.
Key Stat
UCLA must learn how to start playing some defense. Last year, the team was able to outscore opponents with Lonzo Ball, but this season the offense has taken a dip. The Bruins need to get back to fundamentals in order to succeed in this conference.
They are allowing more points than nearly any other brand name school in the country thus far this season. Some of that is a result of the pace the Bruins play at, but they are outside of the top 100 in field goal defense and are in the bottom half of the country in three-point defense. Utah might try to exploit that inefficiency.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Utah has been good at getting teams to adjust to its game this season. The Utes are not a team that wants to run and gun, and they will not get into that type of game with the Bruins.
Instead, look for Utah to find a way to take Welsh out of the picture. UCLA does not have the same great guards that it did last year, and that will be a problem if Welsh doesn’t have success down low.
College Basketball Odds: UCLA 79, Utah 77
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