The Stanford Cardinal just knocked off one of the top teams in the Pac 12, beating Arizona, 88-79 and now they’ll try to get the other tonight.
The No. 4 UCLA Bruins are 21-4 (12-2) and are riding a four-game win streak. Thanks to Stanford knocking off Arizona this weekend, UCLA has the inside track for the Pac 12 regular season title.
However, The 11-14 (5-9) Cardinal have won three of their last five and just might be turning things around down the stretch. They could give the Bruins issues and blow the race for the conference of champions back open.
Let’s look at the odds because UCLA is a big favorite at Pauley Pavilion tonight.
Stanford vs. UCLA odds, spread and total
Stanford vs. UCLA prediction and pick
Stanford is a different team right now. It has won three of its past five games and one of the losses was at Colorado, which is maybe the hardest place to play in the Pac 12 because of the elevation.
So, I’m willing to throw that out, and the other loss was close, 69-65 at Arizona State. On the season, Stanford is 129th in offensive efficiency, but in its last three games that number is up from 1.029 to 1.057.
That is not nearly as good as UCLA’s 1.073, but it’s starting to get into the same neighborhood.
I love UCLA, if I had to pick a team to win the National Championship right now, the Bruins would be my bet. However, this improvement from Stanford feels like it could be significant.
I think it’ll be able to cover tonight in large part because of their slightly improved offense, but also because of the pace that this game will be played at.
UCLA is 243rd in possessions per game and Stanford is 310th. So UCLA wants to play slow, and Stanford wants to play even slower. That makes for a lower-scoring game, and when a game doesn’t get out of the 60s it’s hard to cover a 13.5 points spread now matter who you are playing.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change
