Tonight the UCLA Bruins will take on the Arizona Wildcats in the Semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, which will be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. The game has a start time of 3:10 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Current Vegas betting odds have the Wildcats listed as 11 point favorites, while the total is set at 138.5.
Analysis: The UCLA Bruins started their quest for the Pac-12 Tournament title with a very easy 96-70 win over USC yesterday. The Bruins have now won 4 games in a row and are currently 20-12 on the year overall. UCLA should be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. Even if they lose this game. The Bruins have gone 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record, but just 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games following a SU win of more than 20 points. UCLA has been a solid offensive team this year, as they come in ranked 61st in scoring (72.2 ppg), 142nd in shooting (44.1%), 92nd in 3 point shooting (36.3%) and 249th in FT shooting (67.2%). Defensively the Bruins have not been so good, ranking 225th in points allowed (68.0 ppg), 115th in defensive FG% (41.8%) and 255th in 3 point defense (35.6%).
The Arizona Wildcats are the top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and have won 9 games in a row, which includes a road win at Utah and then back to back blowout home wins over California and Stanford, plus a 22 point win over California in the quarters of the Pac-12 Tournament yesterday. The Cats are now 29-3 overall, while also posting a 17-2 record in the Pac-12. Arizona has gone 10-1 ATS in their last 11 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record, but the favorite is just 1-7 ATS the last 8 in the series. The Wildcats have been a very good offensive team this year, ranking 22nd in scoring (76.6 ppg), 6th in shooting (49.1%), 114th in 3 point shooting (35.6%) and 156th in FT shooting (69.6%). Defensively the Wildcats have been very good this year, ranking 17th in points allowed (58.9 ppg), 28th in defensive FG% (39.2%) and 93rd in 3 point defense (32.5%).
Pick: Going with the Under in this one. Earlier in the year the teams put up just 104 points in a game and while I don't see this one that low I do feel that both of these defenses will really come to play and keep the scoring in the lower 130s. The Cats come in having allowed just 56.8 ppg in their last 8 games and the Bruins have really had issues scoring on the road this year, averaging right around 60 ppg in all games away from home. Yesterday they scored 96, but that was vs a very weak USC defense and they will not be facing a weak defense in this one. The Cats offense has been very good this year, but the Bruins have been decent on defense down the stretch, allowing just 65.5 ppg in their last 8 games and they have allowed just 65.9 ppg on the road this year. 71-60 sounds about right here.
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