UCLA vs. Abilene Christian Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Bruins are 4.5-point favourites on the college basketball odds with a total of 149.
UCLA vs. Abilene Christian NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
It’s the first-ever meeting between these schools – I’d like to tell you that I predicted both to reach the Round of 32, but that’s absolutely false. I did have UCLA beating Michigan State in the First Four last Thursday but not beating BYU in the Round of 64 on Saturday. Abilene Christian pulled off a mega-stunner over Big 12 Tournament champion Texas in Round 1.
The winner would play either No. 10 Maryland or No. 2 Alabama in the Sweet 16. Abilene Christian certainly would be an underdog against both the Terps and Crimson Tide. UCLA might be a short favourite vs. Maryland.
Abilene Christian is 6-0 against the spread in its past six neutral-site games. The Bruins are 10-21 ATS in their past 31 neutral-site games as underdogs.
UCLA Bruins
UCLA (19-9), an at-large team from the Pac-12, beat fellow No. 11 Michigan State 86-80 in OT in the First Four, a game the Bruins were largely outplayed in, and then upset No. 6 BYU 73-62 on Saturday in the first round. I largely picked against UCLA in that one because of the uncertain status of leading scorer Johnny Juzang. He sprained his ankle late against MSU but played against BYU and had 27 points. In doing so, the Kentucky transfer became the third UCLA player to have scored at least 20 points in each of his first two NCAA Tournament contests, joining Lew Alcindor and Reggie Miller. UCLA is in the second round of the Big Dance for the first time since 2017. The Bruins are 5-11 ATS in their past 16 overall.
Abilene Christian Wildcats
Abilene Christian (24-4) is the champion of the Southland Conference and a Division II school as recently as 2013. It will be moving to the Western Athletic Conference next season. The Wildcats were 8.5-point underdogs against No. 3 Texas, a school with eight times the enrollment, but pulled off the 53-52 stunner on Joe Pleasant’s two free throws with 1.2 seconds left. He then stole a pass on the final play of the game. It was Abilene Christian’s first NCAA Tournament win in its second appearance. Pleasant and Coryon Mason each led with 11 points. The Wildcats shot just 29.9 per cent from the field and 3-for-18 from deep but outrebounded the much bigger Longhorns. Abilene Christian is 4-0 ATS in its past four after a win.
ACU
UCLA