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NCAA Basketball Pick – December 28th

The Missouri Tigers travel to Pauley Pavilion Friday night to take on the UCLA Bruins.

The Tigers enter this matchup as the 7th ranked team in the nation. They are coming in off a big win against 10th ranked Illinois and have already beaten Pac-12 member Stanford. Although they only returned one starter from last season in Phil Pressey, the Tigers have started off this year on fire with their only loss coming against a very talented Louisville squad. Pressey leads the team in minutes per game (33.2) and assists (6.3). He will need to have a good game along with leading scorer Laurence Bowers (16.9 ppg). The Tigers will also be relying on California native Jabari Brown who is playing in just his third game of the season. Brown is coming off a great game which saw him pour in a career high 18 points versus Illinois. The achilles’ heel of the Tigers last year was their frontcourt but this year they have been dominating. Mizzou has out-rebounded opponents by more than 14 plus per game. The rebounding dominance will be challenged against a big and improving UCLA team.

The Bruins come into this game at 9-3 but are still looking for that marquee win. A win against Missouri this Friday night would be just that. The Bruins want to show that they are back and will lean on arguably the best freshman class in the nation. That class is lead by Shabazz Muhammad who is averaging just under 19 points per contest. He along with fellow freshman Kyle Anderson (9.0 ppg) and Jordan Adams (18.2 ppg) form an inexperienced but talented squad. The Wear twins are back and form a matchup nightmare for opponents at 6-10. Last year the twins combined for over 21 points and 12 boards per game. The one thing that has hurt the Bruins this year has been their inconsistent play. In order to get back to what they once were this is a game that they must be mentally ready to play as well as physically.

Prediction:

At this point in the season the Tigers are a step ahead of the Bruins. However, they enter this game after a big win versus Illinois and could be in for a let down. UCLA is at home and improving after winning their last four. No matter how you dice it this game will be close.
Missouri 72
UCLA 70