UCLA vs Oregon College Basketball Predictions and Odds Jan 13
UCLA vs Oregon Betting Preview
WagerTalk college basketball capper Tony Finn offers his UCLA vs Oregon betting preview for Thursday, January 13. At the time of posting, the Bruins have opened as a 10-point home favorite over the road Oregon, with the total sitting at 137.5 points.
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| Thursday, January 13 | Pac 12 Basketball Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| Point Spread: | UCLA Bruins -10 vs Oregon Ducks |
| Total: | 140 Points |
| Game Time: | 9:30pm ET / 6:30pm PT |
| Arena: | Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA |
| TV: | ESPN |
UCLA vs Oregon Analysis
Mick Cronin’s UCLA Bruins (10-1, 2-0 Pac 12) play host to Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks (9-6, 2-2 Pac 12) in Westwood Thursday night with tipoff from Pauley Pavilion set for 9:30 pm ET with the game airing on ESPN. The Bruins have won 10 of the program’s first 11 contests. UCLA advanced from a play-in game in last year’s Big Dance losing to the No. #1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in the semis of the 2021 College Basketball National Championship. UCLA aims to secure a sixth consecutive victory on their home court while Oregon works on a three-game run of “Dubs.”
The Bruins return every player that recorded a minute in the 2021 NCAA Big Dance. Throw in an uber-talented freshman recruit and a skilled big man from the transfer portal, and it wasn’t overstating when I suggested this offseason that even a blind man could coach this team to a Pac 12 championship. Cronin and his staff brought in a small but talented two-man recruiting class. The pair is headlined by five-star prospect Peyton Watson, a 6-7 forward out of Long Beach Poly High School (Calif.) On Monday, the Ducks look to secure a fourth straight win following a 78-76 win over Oregon State as 4.5-point favorites in Corvallis.
The Bruins are coming off a 60-52 win over California as 8.5-point favorites on Haas Pavilion hardwood in Berkeley. When this WagerTalk News betting preview was tagged for publication, the Bruins were positioned as 10-point home favorites, with the total holding steady at 140. As a result, UCLA is the -550 money-line chalk, while Oregon has an attractive underdog price-point of +425.
Depleted Ducks
The Ducks returned just three players from a team that earned the Pac-12 regular-season title for a second straight season. Altman and his staff led the team to a spot in last spring’s Sweet 16, where a loss to rival USC left them packing rather than advancing. Senior G Will Richardson (11.3 ppg), who missed last season’s opening 12 games, is working his way back into the conditioning he brought with him to Corvallis. Richardson underwent surgery on the thumb of his shooting hand, and he is still rehabbing the injury but playing through the pain and averaging a team-leading 13.4 points per game. Senior guard Jacob Young averages 10.5 points, and shooting guard Ke’Vion Harmon checks in with an average of 10.1 points per game.
Forward Eric Williams and Center N’Faly Dante are the team’s fourth and fifth leading scorers averaging 8.6 and 8.3 ppg, respectively. As did UCLA, the Oregon Ducks also landed a five-star prep prospect in 6-11 C Nate Bittle. The 7-footer from Central Point, OR, has played in 13 of the team’s 15 games and averaged 1.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per on the season. Oregon opened the year at No. 13 in the AP Poll, but losses to Arizona State and Stanford found the Ducks on the outside looking in on both national polls.
Bruins Continue to Impress Despite Lack of Games Played
“He had been our best shooter all summer, and he has lived in the gym. So all the credit goes to him,” coach Cronin speaking about Tyger Campbell’s improvement to the national media during a past week presser. “It’s huge for our team,” Cronin added in the Tuesday press conference. The Bruins head coach is over-the-top pleased with the work Campbell put in this summer. A lengthy COVID issued break for college kids isn’t easy to access and how a team and individuals respond to the time off is almost always different from player to player. The UCLA player personnel received added time away from the team during the holidays. As a result, the Bruins had several scheduled events canceled, postponed, and even re-postponed. The Bruins have played in two games since December 11, with both victories versus Long Beach State and the most recent being the Cal Bears.
UCLA junior guard, Tyger Campbell, led all scorers with 17 points and four assists in the conference win against the Cal Bears. The Westwood troupe has four players averaging double figures in scoring this season. Guard Johnny Juzang (16.0 points per game), guard Jaime Jaquez, Jr (14.1), guard Jules Bernard (13.0), and the already mentioned Campbell (12.8) are the top-four points producers for the Bruins. UCLA is the No. #3 ranked AP and Coaches Polls Top-25 team heading into this matchup versus Oregon.
UCLA vs Oregon Prediction
It hasn’t taken Sir Mick long to return the Bruins basketball program to basketball relevance. However, there are several schools of thought regarding who this Bruins group is. Are they a roster who benefited from the COVID crisis a season ago with a soft path to the Big Dance Final Four, or are they the “Real Thing?” The Zags found it challenging to match point for point with this Bruins bunch just a few months ago in the opening semifinal of the Lucas Oil Stadium Dance in Indianapolis, Indiana. However, the scoring punch of Juzang, Jaquez, and Campbell, accompanied by the contributions of Bernard, who have assisted the Bruins in averaging 91.3 points per game in Pauley Pavilion an arduous task to match.
The Ducks have a creative offense as always, but the returnees from last year’s Pac 12 championship team are not as experienced or as skilled as last season’s group as a whole. The Ducks have averaged less than 60 points per game as the visiting team this season, and all things equal and transparent, the Ducks are drug by their tailfeathers to the woodshed surrendering a win and a cover to the best team in the conference, the UCLA Bruins. The Wagertalk pick to click is a play on Wooden’s Westwood Warriors, the UCLA Bruins minus the points in this late tip Thursday college basketball feature event.
Interested in placing a bet on tonight’s UCLA vs Oregon contest? DraftKings is offering a $1,000 Deposit Bonus for first-time bettors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia, Wyoming and Arizona.
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UCLA vs Oregon Preview from GoldSheet
NCAAB Stat Sheet
Each day, WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels puts together his College Basketball Stat Sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Check out Thursday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s UCLA vs Oregon contest.
Happy Hour Tip-Off Show
Get your daily fix of college hoops betting information with Joe Raineri and a rotating panel of handicapping guests. The Happy Hour Tip-Off Show will broadcast Monday through Friday at 1:45pm ET / 10:45am PT. Pull up a barstool and join us as we break down tonight’s college basketball card, including this UCLA vs Oregon clash, from a sports betting perspective.
WagerTalk Live Odds Screen
WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the college basketball point spreads, moneylines, first half lines and betting percentages for all of Thursday’s NCAAB games, including this UCLA vs Oregon showdown, from your desktop or phone.
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