Basketball predictions: UCLA vs. Arizona

UCLA men’s basketball will take on its rivals, the Arizona Wildcats, on Saturday night in a game chock-full of playoff implications.

Both teams are ranked in the top 15 in the country, but Arizona is just ahead of UCLA in the conference standings. The Bruins and Wildcats both feature some of the best freshmen in the country, players who could give the Pac-12 the first team in the Final Four since 2008.

Here’s how the Daily Bruin beat writers – Derrek Li and TuAnh Dam – as well as guest William Zou, assistant Graphics editor, think the Bruins will fare this weekend.

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UCLA win
TuAnh Dam, Sports editor

Fans could be in for another exciting game in the 96th edition of UCLA versus Arizona.

Like last year’s Bryce Alford buzzer-beating-3 level of exciting.

Both teams are in the top 15 and have the playmakers and role players to make a Final Four run.

Saturday’s game will pit three of the top freshmen in the country against each other – guard Lonzo Ball and forward T.J. Leaf for the Bruins and Lauri Markkanen for the Wildcats.

What it will come down to will be the other guys.

Multiple Arizona players have been injured for most of the season while UCLA has been relatively healthy.

The Bruins have used the last couple of games to get into the groove of Pac-12 play after their loss in the conference opener to the Oregon Ducks. Ball and Leaf have maintained their high levels of play, but more importantly the other players are finding their ranges.

Senior guard Bryce Alford exploded for 37 points against Colorado last week and fellow senior guard Isaac Hamilton has broken out of his shooting slump, scoring 25 points in the first half against Arizona State.

Those two, along with freshman center Ike Anigbogu and junior center Thomas Welsh, will be more than the Arizona defense can probably handle, and UCLA should escape another close game against its conference foes with the win.

Too bad Russell Westbrook won’t be courtside for this one.

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UCLA win
Derrek Li, senior staff

Here comes UCLA’s biggest test since its lone loss to now-No. 11 Oregon more than three weeks ago. The first road sweep of the Steve Alford era last week at Colorado and Utah was impressive, but it’s time for No. 3 UCLA to add another resume booster with a win over No. 14 Arizona.

Fresh off its 11th straight win with a victory over USC on Thursday night, Arizona is definitely rolling. Watch out for Markkanen, who most recently dropped 30 points against Arizona State and then 23 points against USC while shooting 5-of-6 from the 3-point line. It should be fun to watch the Markkanen and Leaf matchup. Leaf decommitted from Arizona last August, so he could have something up his sleeves for the Wildcats.

But as UCLA has just shown against Arizona State, there probably isn’t a team in the Pac-12 that can stop the Bruins’ high-powered offense, so the question is whether or not Arizona can keep up with UCLA. Chances are the answer is no. With Hamilton rediscovering his shooting stroke, there are just too many weapons for Ball to utilize.

Maybe the Wildcats will have a chance for an upset when the Bruins visit Tucson, Arizona, in late February. But at Pauley Pavilion? Expect the Bruins to keep their home record perfect.

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UCLA win
William Zou, assistant Graphics editor

I played basketball one time in high school, and I went to that Michigan game last year where I was surprised that the game was split into halves and not quarters, so I can confidently predict that UCLA will easily beat Arizona 42-0.

I chose the number 42 because UCLA seems to really like that number and 0 because I assume UCLA will utterly ravage Arizona, like it did to my financial aid.

I’m just thankful that this isn’t football because of the time I wore green to the Oregon game, not realizing that those were the team’s colors, and because of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent making vector portraits of each of the footballers on campus.

I am not looking forward to football season.