UCLA vs St. Francis-Pennsylvania Prediction Basketball Picks 11-6-23
UCLA Bruins (0-0) vs St. Francis-Pennsylvania Red Flash (0-0)
2023-11-06 23:30:00 EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: UCLA Bruins -29.5 -- Over/Under: 138
(Get latest betting odds)
The St. Francis-PA Red Flash and the UCLA Bruins square off in college basketball action from the Pauley Pavilion on Monday night.
St. Francis-PA Team Preview
The St. Francis-PA Red Flash come into the 2023-24 season looking to bounce back from a 13-18 mark in 2022-23, including a 9-7 mark in NEC play. The Red Flash took out Central Connecticut in the quarterfinals before falling to Fairleigh Dickinson in the semifinals. This is going to be a completely new-looking Red Flash team, with all three double-digit scorers gone and seven players from last year’s squad departed. Josh Cohen (21.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 2.5 APG) is the big fish gone, while Landon Moore (13.1 PPG, 3.6 APG) and Maxwell Land (12.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG) are both gone as well, leaving Cam Gregory (5.1 PPG, 2.6 APG) as the top returning scorer from last year’s squad. This is going to be a very young team as all the names on the lineup card are either freshmen or sophomores coming into the year.
UCLA Team Preview
The UCLA Bruins will be looking to build on a solid 2022-23 campaign where they finished 31-6 overall, including an 18-2 mark in Pac-12 conference play to win the Pac-12 regular season title. The Bruins, as the 1-seed in the conference tournament, took out Colorado and Oregon before losing to Arizona in the conference championship game. The Bruins were given a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament, and took out UNC Asheville and Northwestern before being bounced by Gonzaga in the sweet 16. The Bruins lose a lot of talent from last year’s squad, including leading scorer Jaime Jaquez Jr. (17.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG), Tyger Campbell (13.4 PPG, 5 APG), Jaylen Clark (13 PPG, 6 RPG, 2.6 SPG) & Amari Bailey (11.2 PPG) as well as David Singleton (9 PPG). This is still going to be a work in progress with 7 freshmen on the roster, but this UCLA squad has high upside, it’s just a matter of pulling it out.
Chris’ Pick
I get the allure of an underdog on opening night and it may take a few to get UCLA fully cohesive as this is a new look Bruins team. However, this is still a UCLA team loaded with young talent and high-profile recruits, and they’re going up against a Red Flash team that’s starting from scratch basically and just doesn’t have the horses to hang with UCLA in my eyes. It’s a huge number, but UCLA gets it done.
