Arizona Vs UCLA 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 1/20/23 2pm ESPN

[WILD]

Arizona Vs UCLA 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 1/20/23 2pm ESPN

The UCLA Bruins need a win after losing 7 of their last 10 games. The Arizona Wildcats look for a win after winning 5 of their last 8 games. Let's preview this game and give out a UCLA Bruins vs Arizona Wildcats prediction.

UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are coming off wins over Washington and Arizona State. The UCLA Bruins are averaging 64.9 points on 41.8 percent shooting and allowing 63.9 points on 40.1 percent shooting. Sebastian Mack is averaging 13.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, while Adem Bona is averaging 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds. Dylan Andrews is grabbing 1.8 rebounds and Lazar Stefanovic is dishing 1.7 assists. The UCLA Bruins are shooting 29.6 percent from beyond the arc and 71.1 percent from the free throw line. The UCLA Bruins are allowing 31.6 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 31.4 rebounds per game.

Arizona Wildcats
The Arizona Wildcats recently lost to Washington State and beat USC. The Arizona Wildcats are averaging 90.6 points on 49 percent shooting and allowing 71.6 points on 42.2 percent shooting. Caleb Love is averaging 18.4 points and 3.2 assists, while Oumar Ballo is averaging 12.4 points and 8.9 rebounds. Pelle Larsson is the third double-digit scorer and Keshad Johnson is grabbing 6.5 rebounds. The Arizona Wildcats are shooting 37.9 percent from beyond the arc and 71.9 percent from the free throw line. The Arizona Wildcats are allowing 33.3 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 41.1 rebounds per game.

UCLA Bruins vs Arizona Wildcats prediction
The Arizona Wildcats have been a buzz saw for much of the season, and they're 12-5 ATS on the season. Not a team I'm thrilled to step in front of. However, this is a rivalry spot and I doubt UCLA just rolls over. Also, the UCLA Bruins are coming off back to back games where they won outright in the underdog role. Each of the last 5 games between Arizona and UCLA were decided by 10 or fewer points. I think UCLA losses by around 10 and keeps it close.


Arizona is favored at -18 and the Over/Under is 139.5

Let's talk about the Wildcats Vs Bruins!

BEARDOWN!!!

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[arxpert]

Looking to see more of Krivas and Ballo out there. Ballo at the 4 is a secret sauce maneuver. I've been calling for it all offseason, finally got a little preview vs USC.

Bradley
Love
______ (Boswell, Pelle, KJ, Keshad in that order of deployment)
Ballo
Krivas

If Boswell is going to only take 3s, then this is the lineup to do it in. We need this lineup as part of the formula overall. It doesn't need to be the starting lineup, but it needs to be part of the gameplan going forward in any iteration of the 3rd Guard or SF. Krivas needs the experience and vs UCLA will be a good way to get it.

[KansasCityCats]

Playing hack-a-Ballo won't work because Mara is detrimental to ucla's chances. If he's in foul trouble, the bruins are done.

I expect plenty of interior passing and offensive rebounds in a low scoring Arizona win.

[Cactus🌵Cat]

Ignore the current standings, best teams in the PAC are AZ, Colorado, Utah in that order. Also the only teams that will make the Tournament imo

[KansasCityCats]

Agreed. Oregon has a shot if they continue to beat bad teams but Michigan (who is awful) is arguably their best OOC win.

Unless an underdog wins the final conference tournament in Pac-12 history, three teams will be playing in March.

[Cactus🌵Cat]

Arizona's 19-point comeback win was its largest at McKale Center since rallying from down 20 against Texas A&M in 2007

[Deb]

[Jdmarti]

 Almost a horrible loss, glad kj, pelle,ballo brought it in 2nd half.

I hope  Boswell an johnson find there games on offense, I  can't remember  the last time, I saw keshad get a dunk in a game.

Lloyd cannot send double coverage in the post, this team cannot recover  they give up countless 3 pointers.

[KansasCityCats]

I agree against other opponents. Arizona needs to prevent open looks from the perimeter.

Lloyd's objective yesterday was to limit Mara's effectiveness and it worked because he was in foul trouble, which allowed us to get out of the large deficit. Unfortunately, a bad ucla team actually hit their threes, which was unexpected...and PUT us in a deep hole.

Great resilience by this team. They chipped away from 19 down!

[arxpert]

I agree against other opponents. Arizona needs to prevent open looks from the perimeter.

Lloyd's objective yesterday was to limit Mara's effectiveness and it worked because he was in foul trouble, which allowed us to get out of the large deficit. Unfortunately, a bad ucla team actually hit their threes, which was unexpected...and PUT us in a deep hole.

Great resilience by this team. They chipped away from 19 down!

Mara didn't play or did I miss a joke lol.

I can't understand why this team would double-team anyone, ever. It was a horrible habit picked up since it failed vs Yao Edey. Just guard the 3pt line. Is it that hard? I see every other team do it.

Boswell continues to be horrible, but I will say that he had good qualities show through in the 2nd half. I think it helped keep the team focus.

Tommy going to a little press with 10min or so left was decent, but once it got to about a 5pt deficit I thought that there was no point. UCLA broke it for an easy dunk. I think in the end it prevailed, sped up what UCLA was doing, but even with about 6-8min left we were nearly tied and still doing it. I didn't like it at that point.

Mick did his best to lose that game with his technical foul. I admire him for the fighting spirit of a rabid chihuahua.

Bradley still had better stats than Boswell somehow. I just don't get it. Maybe it's too late for this team overall. Maybe we can't go full time to Bradley. But he is still getting close to 20min now. I just don't see a lot of flow to the offense.

The focus went off Caleb Love, which I think was a good thing. Everyone can put the team on their back on this team.

Ballo is so scared to go to the FT line that he makes layups extremely difficult on himself. That needs to change. He had a heroic FT performance, but it's getting scary.

OVERALL - I think this could be Arizona's best win. This was Dire. Yes, DIRE. We showed a lot of grit. I don't think we played down to our competition nor did UCLA play up. This is just Tommy vs Mick through the last few seasons. These matchups have always been very tight and Tommy uses the same approach vs Mick every time. Get to the free throw line, pray we make them, get UCLA bigs in foul trouble, hope that we pull through at the last second. It's a strategy that shouldn't work most of the time, but it has when it's mattered for this particular matchup.

I think a win like this will help the team going forward. We have a good opportunity to actually start a real win streak @OREST. I hope we don't tank that one so we can go to Eugene on a high and try to capitalize on some momentum.

This team needs to continue to get it's confidence back. We got knocked out by Purdue. Haven't been the same since. Need to forge a slightly different identity, but not get too far away from who we were before that game.

Footnote - I think the fans hung in there. It had to be extremely frustrating to stand there at times, but really didn't create much of a hostile atmosphere. It was very much "what have you done for me lately". Not enough roaring at UCLA as much as rooting for UofA when we were on offense. But I still commend the fans with the good seats for being on their feet even though they can't physically jump up and down they showed a general respect that they were with the team even down 19, then stuck down 10-13, getting to 7 then back to 10. Plenty of times UCLA answered our runs and we kept coming + the fans didn't sit down. I liked seeing that.