The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will head to the City of Angels on Saturday looking for a bounce back win against the UCLA Bruins after falling to Oklahoma in the Jimmy V Classic earlier in the week.
The Bruins will enter this game after back-to-back wins and they’re host the Irish while trying to protect an undefeated record on their home court. Of course, it’s still early and Notre Dame represents their first real test in the Pauley Pavilion.
All in all, these are two young, remade, teams tipping off on Saturday night. Will UCLA be able to protect its home court or can the Fighting Irish steal a big win on the road? Here in December, both teams still have a lot of unresolved questions, but neither program is a pushover and that should lead to an interesting contest.
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. UCLA Bruins
Date and Time: Saturday, December 8, 2018, 10:30 p.m. ET
Location: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
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Fighting Irish vs. Bruins TV Coverage: ESPN2
It’s hard to imagine a coach on a hotter seat in college hoops than Steve Alford was heading into the season. He’s hanging on after some major disappointments, but the team’s looked a bit better in the early going of the 2018-2019 season and could be worth watching in a questionable Pac-12.
Before that, however, they’ll have to get by the Irish. A win against Notre Dame would be a nice boost for the club and they’re playing at home which gives them a nice chance.
The Bruins are undefeated through six regular season home games, but overall the team is 6-2, losing against both Michigan State and North Carolina in Sin City as part of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Against the Spartan, UCLA allowed 87 points and was beat by 20. They, however, were down 51-26 at the half and continued fighting in the second half, showing grit and shooting much better. The young team showed its age early, but when the pressure was off in the second half and game already lost, they played much better basketball. The North Carolina game, however, was the opposite. The team hung with the Tar Heels early and took a five-point lead into the locker room before crumbling.
In general this team was overmatched in those two games, but against the lesser competition in its other six contests has looked great.
Individually, UCLA has four players averaging double-digit points including Kris Wilkes, a larger guard who leads the way with 17.5 PPG and offers solid, if unspectacular, shooting. Jaylen Hands joins him on the outside while Moses Brown is the key inside the paint.
The freshman came up short in the games against UNC and Michigan State which is troublesome, but he’s got 13 PPG and 9.9 RPG. The five-star recruit is the key to this team’s frontcourt and needs to step up as he’s not only the biggest offensive threat inside, he’s also key to the Bruins remaining competitive on the boards and the primary defensive threat inside thanks to a staggering 2.8 BPG.
Similar to UCLA, the Fighting Irish’s strength is in the backcourt, too. Juwan Durham is a solid defender in the middle, but he’s seen limited playing time with the Irish leaning on a guard-heavy rotation. John Mooney is the lone forward seeing significant, consistent playing time.
Mooney’s a solid offensive contributor—ranking second in PPG—and a good rebounder that’ll need to lead the team on the boards, but this game will ultimately come down to the backcourt.
T.J. Gibbs is the go-to guy for the Irish this year. He had a great sophomore year last year and is the team’s primary ball-handler, but he’s struggled to find his shot at times. He’s sinking fewer than 30-percent from three after topping 40-percent from beyond the arc last year.
As a team, the Irish are shooting just 31.1-percent from three and 42-percent from the floor. Those are not great numbers and need to improve. The shooting has been enough to give them a 6-2 record so far, but they’ve yet to play any overly tough competition.
They lost to Oklahoma in their last game, falling 85-80 while shooting 41.9-percent from the floor. The Sooners outshot them by a sizeable margin, particularly outside. This team also lost to Radford at home, 63-60.
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Saturday’s the first return to the big stage for the Bruins since those losses and that’ll be interesting to watch. We’ll also get to see how Notre Dame bounces back off a loss to Oklahoma.
The Irish haven’t had a whole lot of challenging matchups to this point. They did beat DePaul and Illinois, but their shooting proved to be an issue against the Sooners. Can a young UCLA team also exploit that and come away victorious?
Be sure to take part in all the live betting opportunities at BookMaker.eu and watch how well Notre Dame is able to shoot early. Likewise, keep close tabs on UCLA who provide against Michigan State and UNC that they’re shooting can be hot-and-cold within the same game, essentially playing one half in each of those two games.
Key Player
Wilkes, Hands and Brown may be the bigger names for the Bruins, but Chris Smith is quietly having a strong start to the season, giving Alford an additional double-digit scorer and excellent shooter on the outside.
The Bruins are known to like the three-pointer, but Wilkes hasn’t been shooting that well from deep nor has Hands. Smith leads the team outside—at least amongst those with a reasonable number of chances, shooting 39.1-percent.
Smith can be a real difference maker in this game. He’s got 10.3 PPG and 5.5 RPG. He’s a tall, but can shoot from the outside while also giving the ability to rebound, block and even control the ball. He’s quietly performing well as an all-around player on defense and offense.
Fighting Irish vs. Bruins Live Betting
A former storied rivalry gets its first iteration since 2009 making it an interesting game from a historical context, but it also provides a lot of intrigue on the court with both teams in a bit of a rebuilding mode and each focused, and dependent, on young talent.
The Bruins are a young team and have showed issues with consistency on the young season, but the Irish have been largely disappointing.
Look for Wilkes to have a great game on the outside and Hands to outshoot everyone for Notre Dame on the perimeter. Inside, Brown has shown flashes of what most expected the freshman to be and will have some moments in this one. Count on the Irish to struggle shooting just enough to allow UCLA to capture the win.
Be sure to check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for this weekend’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: UCLA 79, Notre Dame 73
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