UCLA Bruins vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Prediction: A mouth-watering battle

The NCAA system for basketball rankings is quite advanced. There is a poll that involves various stakeholders in the game and they decide which teams have to be put under which rank, which can have variations but in the end, they do hold true. The thing is that NCAA March Madness is a knockout form and just one loss means the end of the campaign, thus these rankings constantly are proven false, but the barometer is too thin. Where will the barometer shuffle when two closely ranked teams, the UCLA Bruins are going to meet Gonzaga Bulldogs?

UCLA enters the fray after defeating Northwestern 68:63 as Jaime Jaquez had another big night and rolled in 24 points and eight rebounds. UCLA was beaten on the offensive rebounding end, getting outrebounded 3-14. But another reason for that was that the stifling Bruins’ defense wasn’t allowing anything easy on the first attempt. They held Northwestern to around 38% field goal and below 28% from the three-point line. UCLA did a great job of distributing 17 assists to just eight turnovers. The Bruins did a great job of getting to the line, collecting 18 of the 21 free throws. UCLA has emerged as a solid defensive team thus far.

The Bulldogs storm into this game after a thrilling 84:81 win against TCU. Drew Timme turned in another masterclass and grabbed 28 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block. Anyway, this was a hard-fought game and eerily both teams made 30 of their 67 shots, with TCU making one more triple. However, Gonzaga fended off TCU before the last minute and TCU closed the gap when it was too late. Gonzaga had a strong 43-36 rebounding advantage. Three players grabbed at least eight rebounds for the squad. Gonzaga made four more free throws, and that difference widened late in the game.

The Bruins defend hard whereas Gonzaga is a fantastic scoring team which makes for a highly intriguing battle. Gonzaga’s defense has been a bit suspect and even a snail-scoring UCLA can find some fractures. The mentality is the opposite here and that means that this can be a close battle. Two teams that are ranked closely and are heavyweights on the opposite ends of the floor, that’s why I labeled this as “mouthwatering”. Anyway, I back the Bruins’ defense to come on top here but the win-loss difference can be within six.