The UCLA Bruins (7-2, 3-0 Pac-12) tangle with the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-3, 1-0) Thursday in a Pac-12 showdown at Desert Financial Arena at 10:30 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the UCLA-Arizona State college basketball betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
UCLA at Arizona State: Betting odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 2:20 p.m. ET.
- Money line: UCLA -125 (bet $125 to win $100) | Arizona State +105 (bet $100 to win $105)
- Against the spread/ATS: UCLA -1.5 (-110) | Arizona State +1.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 144.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
UCLA at Arizona State: Three things to know
- UCLA won back-to-back games at home by a single possession with the latest being a 65-62 win against Colorado as a 1-point favorite. The Bruins have won seven of their last eight games and are 6-3 against the spread this season.
- Arizona State has been forced to postpone several games already this season including scheduled road contests against Washington State and Washington this past week and a Dec. 22 home game vs. Utah. The Sun Devils lost their last game 76-63 back on Dec. 16, at home to UTEP as 13-point favorites. Unless you’re fading them, the Sun Devils have been an awful bet this season, covering the spread in just one of their seven games.
- The Sun Devils have dominated the Bruins in their recent history. UCLA snapped a four-game losing streak to Arizona State with a win last February but the Sun Devils have a 5-0-1 ATS record in their last six games vs. the Bruins.
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UCLA at Arizona State: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
UCLA 77, Arizona State 70
Money line (ML)
UCLA has a higher effective field-goal percentage and a higher net eFG% than Arizona State. The Bruins are a better rebounding team, have more experience, height and RSCI top-100 recruits. Still, the recent head-to-head history favors Arizona State and UCLA is without its second-leading scorer in G Chris Smith.
Arizona State also has a key contributor on the injury report in PF Marcus Bagley (13.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG). Also, it’s only UCLA head coach Mick Cronin’s second season on the job and he already shed some of the Sun Devils’ curse by beating them in their last meeting.
On one hand, the home team is 15-4-2 ATS in the last 21 contests, but on the other Arizona State is 0-7 ATS in its last seven at home. These ATS trends apply here in the “money line” section since the spread is so small.
BET UCLA (-125) for 1 unit.
Against the spread (ATS)
PASS ON THE SPREAD. It’s not worth it, I’ll pay the extra vig for UCLA’s money line.
Over/Under (O/U)
I’d follow the market here and TAKE OVER 144.5 (-110) for a half-unit but hope we didn’t get here too late. The Over has been hit so hard bookmakers have moved the total down from the 149.5-point opener. It’s not a tight handicap hence the light wager but I do lean to the OVER.
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