UCLA Bruins vs. Ohio State Buckeyes College Basketball prediction, preview
UCLA has been a road fade for me, and the Bruins finally got me on Wednesday’s slate. UCLA is undefeated at Pauley Pavilion, but it’s been a completely different story away from home. The win in Happy Valley improved the Bruins to just 2-5 in road/neutral games, and they got help along the way — Penn State was already down one of its point guards and lost the other one to injury during the game.
The other long road trip UCLA took in the conference so far this season was to Iowa and Minnesota — both losses. The Bruins are 0-4 this season when priced as the underdog, which they are on Saturday afternoon in Columbus. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are 7-2 at home this season, and both losses came to elite competition — Illinois and Nebraska.
Ohio State is off a west coast trip to Oregon and Washington, but hasn’t played since Sunday, so I’m not too concerned about the travel spot. The Buckeyes have been home all week to prep this one, and are in a good motivational spot to come out strong at home, following the loss at Washington.
The road underdog role has not been kind to UCLA this season, and I’ll back the Buckeyes to keep things that way.
