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UCF Knights - NCAAB

UCF Knights vs UCLA Bruins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Friday, 03/20/26

Xfinity Mobile ArenaTBS
UCF
21-11
UCF
Fri Mar 20
UCLA
23-11
UCLA
UCLA Bruins
Google News

UCF vs UCLA Pickswise Expert Predictions

Point Spread Pick
UCLA -5.5(-115)

The UCF Knights and the UCLA Bruins will face off on Friday in Philadelphia for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will tip off at 7:25pm EST in Xfinity Mobile Arena before UConn and Furman take the court afterwards. UCLA made it to the Big 10 semifinals last weekend and are playing like we expected in the preseason as of late. They struggled early in the season but have seemed to turn the corner recently, so I am backing them to cover this spread.

UCLA is -5.5 and that is my best bet of the game. I like UCLA to cover against UCF because I believe their offense will be too much for the UCF defense. According to KenPom, the Knights are ranked just #235 nationally in effective field goal percentage and #187 in three-point percentage. The Bruins offense is ranked #16 in three-point percentage and should have success from beyond the arc here. Guard play is important in March and UCLA has three great guards in Donovan Dent, Trent Perry and Skyy Clark. I am backing them to cover here and would not be surprised if they challenge UConn in the round of 32. Take UCLA to over in this one.

*UCLA -5.5 available at time of publishing. Playable at -6*

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Lock Mamba

My name is Robby Nardini and I have been a diehard college basketball fan my whole life. I am a former University of Illinois basketball manager and have been writing about college hoops since I moved on from the program in 2020. My gambling picks here on Pickswise are heavily calculated by using my overall college basketball knowledge, specific trends and analytical sites such as KenPom, Bart Torvik, Evan Miya and more. I write here at Pickswise as well as Illinois basketball specific outlets such as Armchair Illini and The Champaign Room. You can find me on X @robbynardini and @lockmamba, where I write a wide range of college hoops focused pieces and do my own Bracketology.
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