UCLA vs USC Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for January 26 (Bruins Return to Winning Ways in Low-Scoring Showdown)

UCLA vs USC Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for January 26 (Bruins Return to Winning Ways in Low-Scoring Showdown)

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UCLA vs USC Game Info

  • 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Regular Season Game
  • No. 8 UCLA (17-3, 8-1 Pac-12) vs. USC (14-6, 6-3 Pac-12)
  • Date: Thursday, January 26, 2023
  • Time: 9:00 PM ET
  • Venue: Galen Center -- Los Angeles, California

The No. 8 UCLA Bruins will take on the rival USC Trojans in a Pac-12 showdown scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 26.

UCLA hopes to bounce back from a 58-52 loss to ranked Arizona over the weekend, which ended the Bruins' winning streak at 14 games. Meanwhile, USC won for the third time in its last four outings with a 77-69 win over Arizona State, led by a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds from Drew Peterson.

Can UCLA start another streak with a victory tonight? Or will USC hand the Bruins back-to-back losses for the second time this season?

UCLA vs USC Odds & Spread

UCLA enters this contest as the clear road favorite on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook's odds. This 9 p.m. ET clash also features an over/under of 131.5 points with both sides set at -110.

UCLA vs USC Betting Trends

  • UCLA has beaten the spread 12 times in 20 games.
  • As 5.5-point favorites or more, the Bruins are 9-5 against the spread.
  • There have been nine UCLA's games (out of 20) that went over the total this year.
  • USC is 11-9-0 against the spread this year.
  • The Trojans have won twice ATS (2-1) as a 5.5-point underdog or greater this season.
  • USC has played 20 games this season, and nine of them have hit the over.
UCLA Rank UCLA AVG USC AVG USC Rank
100th 75.4 Points Scored 71.3 188th
11th 59.8 Points Allowed 66.4 93rd
178th 32.2 Rebounds 32.8 147th
51st 10.4 Off. Rebounds 8.7 190th
293rd 6.2 3pt Made 5.6 332nd
83rd 14.7 Assists 13.9 128th
6th 9.5 Turnovers 12.8 240th

UCLA vs USC Prediction & Pick

This is the second meeting of the season between these Pac-12 rivals after UCLA picked up a 60-58 win at home earlier this month. The Bruins' defense gave the Trojans an issue then and I doubt that'll be any different this time. Heading into tonight's game, UCLA allows 59.8 PPG (T-No. 8) on 40.9% shooting (No. 46).

USC's offensive inconsistencies make it tough to believe that the team can solve UCLA's defense. The Trojans are only averaging 68 points in their last five games. Furthermore, they only shot 3-of-16 (18.8%) from three-point range in their last matchup against the Bruins, which can't be ignored.

UCLA has also won the last three meetings with USC, holding the former to fewer than 60 points in each of the last two. With losses being rare for the Pac-12's top team, look for the Bruins to return to their winning ways on the road.

Final Score Prediction: UCLA: 68 | USC: 60

UCLA vs USC Best Bet

Tonight's projected point total sits at 131.5, which is fairly low. Having said that, I predict that UCLA and USC will combine for fewer points than that.

First of all, the under is 8-1 in UCLA's last nine games and 4-1 in USC's last five. On top of the total going under in eight of the Trojans' last 11 Pac-12 games, it's also done so in each of their last seven games against the Bruins at Galen Center, seeing an average of 116.3 points scored in the last three alone.

Considering how the two sides only combined for 118 points three weeks ago, I anticipate another low-scoring battle tonight.

Bet: Under 131.5 Points (-110)

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.