No. 2 Michigan faces UCLA Saturday on CBS in a conflict of Massive Ten foes. This would be the thirteenth matchup between Michigan and UCLA for the reason that flip of the century, with each applications having six wins towards one another throughout that stretch.
The Wolverines (23-1) are off to their greatest 24-game begin at school historical past, however are coming off an upset scare towards Northwestern. Michigan trailed by as many as 16 factors on the street earlier than storming again within the second half to seal an 87-75 win over the Wildcats. Michigan’s lone loss got here towards Wisconsin final month at house.
UCLA has received 5 of its final six video games after beginning 4-3 in Massive Ten play. The Bruins are coming off a 77-73 win over Washington after guard Trent Perry dropped 23 factors. UCLA heads into the weekend 3.5 video games again of Michigan within the Massive Ten standings.
The Wolverines maintain a 2.0-game lead over Illinois for first place.
Michigan vs. UCLA: Have to know
Michigan might make race for No. 1 attention-grabbing: Michigan is the projected No. 1 total seed in CBS Sports activities’ newest Bracketology projections. The Wolverines jumped to No. 1 total after Arizona misplaced to Kansas earlier this week. With Arizona dropping its first sport of the season, the AP Prime 25 ballot on Monday must be attention-grabbing. Arizona has been the consensus top-ranked workforce for a number of weeks. It would not be stunning to see Michigan get some consideration for No. 1.
Can UCLA get Donovan Dent going? The important thing to a possible upset for UCLA will likely be Dent. The previous New Mexico star has had an up-and-down season with the Bruins after transferring in final offseason. Dent is having certainly one of his greatest stretches at UCLA after recording at the very least 10 assists in three consecutive video games. He performed all 40 minutes towards Washington and completed with 17 factors, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.
Aday Mara faces his previous workforce: A storyline to observe will likely be Mara, who performed the primary two seasons of his profession at UCLA, going through his previous workforce. Mara performed restricted minutes below coach Mick Cronin at UCLA however has discovered a constant function with the Wolverines. Michigan coach Dusty Could has routinely deployed two-big lineups in his rotation. With Mara assuming a extra outstanding function, he has develop into one of many nation’s greatest defensive gamers.
The place to look at Michigan vs. UCLA dwell
Date: Saturday, Feb. 14 | Time: 12:45 p.m. ET
Location: Crisler Heart — Ann Arbor, Michigan
TV: CBS | Stay stream: CBSSports.com, CBS Sports activities App
Streaming on Paramount+ Premium
Michigan vs. UCLA prediction, decide
For the primary half-hour of sport time towards Northwestern, Michigan seemed susceptible. Then, the Wolverines flipped the change and seemed just like the workforce ranked No. 2 within the nation. This sport will likely be a harder problem for Michigan than its final matchup towards Northwestern. Nonetheless, I count on Mara to have a giant sport towards his previous workforce and star ahead Yaxel Lendeborg to have a bounce-back efficiency on offense after scoring simply 35 factors whole in his final three video games. Decide: Michigan -15.5
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