by It’s a battle of the top-10 teams and the top two seeds in the tournament as the second-ranked UCLA Bruins take on the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats in Saturday night’s 2023 Pac-12 championship game. Both teams drove in their semifinal games, with UCLA (29-4) beating Oregon 75-56 and Arizona (27-6) beating rival Arizona State 78-59. This is the rubber match when the Bruins defeated the Wildcats 82-73 at home a week ago, while Arizona won 58-52 in Tucson in January. UCLA has won 12 straight while Arizona has lost two of its last five — to Arizona State and the Bruins.
Tipoff is scheduled for 10:30pm ET at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Caesars Sportsbook lists the game as a pick ’em in the latest UCLA vs. Arizona odds, and the over/under for total points scored is set at 147.5. Before you secure Arizona vs. UCLA picks, be sure to check out college basketball predictions and betting tips from SportsLine’s advanced computer simulation model.
The SportsLine projection model simulates each Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. The model competes in week 76-51 of the conference tournament with the top college basketball picks this season, raking in nearly $1,200 for $100 players. Everyone who has followed him has seen huge returns.
Now the model has focused on Arizona vs. UCLA and just set its picks and CBB predictions. You can now go to SportsLine to see the model selection. Well, here are several college basketball odds and betting lines for UCLA vs. Arizona:
- Spread UCLA vs. Arizona: Pick ’em
- UCLA vs. Arizona Over/Under: 147.5 points
- UCLA vs. Arizona moneyline: UCLA -110, Arizona -110
- UCLA: 19-13-1 ATS this season
- AZ: 9-5 ATS this season against teams with a win ratio of .650 or higher
- UCLA vs. Arizona Picks: See picks at SportsLine
Featured Game | UCLA Bruins vs. Arizona Wildcats
Why UCLA Can Cover
UCLA has covered the spread in four straight Saturday games and is rolling since back-to-back losses to Arizona and UCLA in January. Jaime Jaquez, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, had 22 points and 10 rebounds in last Saturday’s win against the Wildcats. Tyger Campbell scored 21 points and is coming off a 28-point game against the Ducks. Jaquez averages 17.5 points and 8.1 rebounds while Campbell averages 13.5 points and 4.8 assists.
The Bruins are the regular-season Pac-12 champions after winning 18-2 in conference while the Wildcats went 14-6. UCLA has the best defense in the Pac-12, allowing 60.3 points per game and is second with 74.4 points. Arizona leads the conference in scoring (83.3) but has the worst defense in the conference (71.9). The Bruins had nine steals and forced 17 turnovers in last weekend’s meeting and drove to victory after giving Arizona a 13-2 lead. The Bruins went 13-8-1 ATS in conference games and have won their last four games by at least nine points.
Why Arizona can cover
Arizona is trying to avenge its loss to the Bruins last week, and it’s on quite the vendetta. The Wildcats have lost three of their last 15 games, and the last two tournament wins have come against two of those teams. They beat Stanford 95-84 on Thursday and then Arizona State by nearly 20 points. They have the team with the most points in the Pac-12 and rank fourth in the nation with 83.3 points per game. They also lead the conference in field goal percentage (49.9) and 3-point shooting (38.4%). They hit 40% from afar in the last meeting with UCLA.
The Wildcats are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 against teams with a win ratio of .600 or better. Leading them are big men Azuolas Tubelis, averaging 19.8 points and 9.1 rebounds, and center Oumar Ballo (14.2 points, 8.5 rebounds). Tubelis had 17 points and nine rebounds on Friday and 24 and 10 in the matchup with the Bruins last week. Ballo had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Ducks. Three other wildcats average at least 10 points. Kylan Boswell and Kerr Kriisa scored a combined 7-for-11 from the outside last Saturday.
How to make Arizona vs. UCLA picks
SportsLine’s model tilts across the total, projecting 149 combined points. The model also says that one side of the spread has all the value. You can only see the model selection at SportsLine.
So who will win UCLA vs. Arizona? And which side of the spread has all the value? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the spread you need to jump to, all from the model who crushed his college basketball picks, and find out.
