The USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins meet Thursday in college basketball action from Pauley Pavilion. USC is 11-4 overall this year. The Trojans lost to Washington State in their last matchup. As for UCLA, they’re 13-2 following a win over Washington on Sunday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
USC posted a 7-3 run over their first 10 games, losing to Florida Gulf Coast, Tennessee and Wisconsin. The Trojans are 4-1 since then with wins over Long Beach State, Auburn, Colorado State and Washington.
In the Washington State matchup on Sunday, the Trojans were down 41-30 by the break. USC didn’t get much closer in the second half and lost 81-71. Leading team scorer Drew Peterson put up 16 points with eight rebounds.
Over on the UCLA side, they were 8-2 through 10 games with losses to only Baylor and Illinois. The Bruins would keep the win streak going with victories versus Maryland, Kentucky, UC Davis, Washington State and Washington.
In the Washington game, the Bruins took a 36-27 lead into the break. UCLA posted a 38-22 run from there and won it 74-49 in blowout fashion. Adem Bona put up 18 points and Tyger Campbell doubled on 15 points and 11 assists.
PICK: I’ll probably take a stab on USC here. The Trojans will need to bounce back from their 10-point loss to a struggling Washington State team, however. The good news is that USC had 43.1 percent shooting from the field and 43 rebounds in that one—they only hit 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range, though. The Trojans have hit 71 or more points in five straight games and should be able to keep pace here if they’re playing well. UCLA isn’t going to be an easy opponent by any stretch however, so I’ll probably stay away from this one.