10:35 pm
December 8

Notre Dame @ UCLA

Who will WIN this matchup?

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-2)

@ UCLA Bruins (6-2)

 

Current odds:

Notre Dame Fighting Irish: (+180)

UCLA Bruins: (-220)

 

• The line for this game is UCLA by 5 points.

• Notre Dame travels coast to coast to visit a well-rested UCLA squad on Saturday evening after the Fighting Irish suffered their second loss of the season at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. The Bruins have won two straight in dominant fashion, with their most recent victory coming against Loyola Marymount on Sunday. Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands had the best game of his young career against the Lions, scoring 17 points and handing out 10 assists for his first career double-double in the Bruins’ 82-58 win.

•  Notre Dame suffered its first loss since Nov. 14 in what was its first game away from South Bend, Ind., as Oklahoma’s veterans were able to get the best of the Irish’s youngsters down the stretch in the 85-80 win. “An older team played older tonight. Oklahoma is an older group and they played older than us,” Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey told the media after the game.

• Leading scorer T.J. Gibbs scored a team-high 18 on 6-of-16 shooting to bump his season average to 14.3 points, but the junior guard is shooting 34.9 percent on the season. Junior forward John Mooney added 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for his ACC-leading fourth double-double of the season. Juwan Durham also scored 15 and recorded three blocks, marking the fourth time this season he has recorded three or more in a game.

• Freshman Moses Brown, a 7-1 center, racked up his fourth double-double in eight games Sunday with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Leading scorer Kris Wilkes had 17 points, with 14 coming in the second half, pushing his season average to 17.5 points. UCLA’s defense held Loyola Marymount, a team averaging 71.1 points on the season, to its lowest total of the year, frustrating star James Batemon and his 18.9 points per game to just seven points on 2-of-14 shooting.

• Wilkes has scored in double figures in each game this season.

• Hands leads the Pac-12 in assists (50) and assists per game (6.3).

• Notre Dame is playing in its first true road game of the season on Saturday.

5/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
UCLA Bruins
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