It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing to this point in the season for either the Stanford Cardinals or the UCLA Bruins as the two Pac-12 teams get set for their inaugural in-conference showdown of the NCAA basketball season.
Neither team is playing their best basketball at the moment though the Cardinals do boast an undefeated record in true home games this season while UCLA is in the midst of a four-game slide. Can the Bruins put a stop to their current losing streak on Tuesday with a win at home? Or will Stanford extend its home success to the road?
Stanford certainly is taking on UCLA at the right time with rumors that Steve Alford has lost the respect of the team, his players and the fan base. While Stanford is far from a reliable team on the hardwood, the Cardinals currently represent a much better bet than the scuffling Bruins.
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Stanford Cardinals vs. UCLA Bruins
Date and Time: Thursday, January 3, 2019, 11 p.m. ET
Location: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
College Basketball Odds: Check Back Later
Cardinals vs. Bruins TV Coverage: ESPN
The Cardinals are just 7-5 on the young season as they get set to get their Pac-12 schedule rolling on Tuesday against UCLA.
Stanford’s first four losses of the year were all understandable. The Cardinals, after all, are a rebuilding team in the post Reid Travis era. The team lost three double-digit scorers from last year’s team which wasn’t all that great to begin with.
The fifth loss for the Cards is the concerning one. They lost 65-74 to San Francisco State a couple weeks ago. The team was short on the outside and could shoot from seemingly anywhere on the floor. Stanford won their last game to rebound from the tough loss, but that win wasn’t against much of an opponent in Long Beach State.
KZ Okpala and Daejon Davis are returning starters for Stanford and a pair of solid performers and leaders. That said, this team still had a lot to replace from last year and the best newcomer—Cormac Ryan—has missed three straight games heading into Tuesday with an injury.
The freshman guard has been good. The team’s top recruit, Ryan has 11 PPG. He’s not been a particularly great shooter, but is solid enough on the outside. If he misses another game, that’s a major hit for Stanford—again—as the loss leaves the Cards lacking outside.
Davis and Marcus Sheffield are other guards getting quality playing time. Davis, of course, is one of the team’s leaders. He’s the best outside shooter on the team and with 11.8 PPG, 3.8 APG and a team lead in steals to boot, he’s certainly a player to watch.
Inside the paint, Stanford is much deeper. Okpala is the team leader in scoring with 16.6 PPG. He’s also a solid rebounder on a team that’s good—but not great—on the boards.
On the other side of the floor, UCLA is just 7-6 this year. Like the Cardinals, the Bruins have some understandable losses on the resume. Michigan State, North Carolina and Ohio State are certainly tough opponents. Even losing to Belmont and Cincinnati are understandable. Still, it’s hardly been a good year for UCLA so far.
The Bruins are in the midst of a four game losing streak including their most recent loss, a 58-73 shellacking at the hands of Liberty of all teams. That loss came at home, too.
UCLA lost the game early as Liberty got off to an early lead and held it. The Bruins shot just 1-for-6 from three-point range in the first half and 39.2-percent from the floor overall in the game. UCLA won the rebounding battle by a landslide in the game, but the dismal shooting cost them in the end.
Statistically, the Bruins are a better team on the boards than Stanford and are a slightly better scoring team with 76 PPG. As a whole the team is shooting 45.1-percent from the floor, but that number has been dropping. What’s the most concerning for UCLA, however, is an absolutely terrible shooting percentage from the free throw line. This team needs to be better there.
Moses Brown is the main reason UCLA does well rebounding. The center brings plenty of height inside and has 11.5 PPG, 8.8 RPG and 2.5 BPG. He, however, is one of few inside threats on this team.
On the outside, Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands are double-digit scorers with 17.5 and 11.5 PPG respectively. Wilkes is easily the better shot, but Hands is an assists machine with seven per contest.
Live Betting
Keep an eye on any news and shake up out of the UCLA camp given the struggles and losing streak for the Bruins. This season has turned on UCLA fast. Before the losing streak, the Bruins were 7-2 out of the gate and looked to be in the midst of a turnaround season with the LaVar Ball distraction a thing of the past. Then, everything fell apart.
Watch early to see if UCLA can show signs of early life. A coaching shake up or other dramatic move will, obviously, have a big initial impact if it happens prior to this game. Watch for that.
Short of that, however, look for the downward spiral to continue for UCLA, even at home and look to bet against the Bruins in most situations, including plenty of live betting and prop opportunities available at BookMaker.eu.
Key Player
The key is really for the Bruins to find a way to turn things around and get back to winning as they did reasonably well at the beginning of the season. In that case, Alford is the key, but as far as players go, look to Prince Ali.
The junior guard isn’t the top scorer on the team and UCLA certainly needs Brown and Cody Riley to pick up their games inside, particularly given the deep forward position for the Cardinals. Still, the backcourt is a weak area for Stanford, particularly if Ryan is still a no-go. He’s the key for the Cards.
Back to Ali, he’s really slumped recently. Hands and Wilkes haven’t been quite as good as they can be lately either, but Ali scored just two points in 19 minutes against Liberty and while he has 8.9 PPG this year, he’s scored just six in the last two games and 25 over the last four. That’s just over six a game in the losing streak.
Cardinals vs. Bruins Live Betting
The Bruins were just destroyed by Liberty in their last game, marking UCLA’s fourth straight loss. This team is falling to pieces before our very eyes and anything short of a coaching change to wake up this program and its players seems unlikely to get the Bruins out of their funk.
Yes, Liberty was a good defensive team, but the Bruins should have played much better in that game and did not.
Look for the Cardinals to take advantage of the Bruins’ struggles and come away with the win. Okpala and Davis will lead the way as Stanford manages to work around some backcourt concerns to shoot well enough from the perimeter to open up the court. From there, the Cardinals will battle on the boards and ultimately win this game inside.
Be sure to check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for this weekend’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Stanford 74, UCLA 66
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