MORE important than life-or-death matchup. UCLA netting out at a circa 1 pt road fav, down very slightly from the Opening Line.
Would help loads if Bilo can go tonite.
And, don't rule out the possibility (probably unlikely) that Bilo might play some mins at his career-long position, PF (to lessen the low-blocks banging on his right ankle), with Aday & III chipping in some rim protection at C.
At a 4-7 career mark against $cum, there is no question that CMC will be balls-to-the-wall in endeavoring to take this one My instinct leads me to think that our D will be the main determinant of our pulling this one out. Which, to me, switches the spotlight moving away from our C spot, and shifting to our best defender, Kobe, who will be the Fig Tech floor villain and personification of Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again.
Defense, as in: '$cum goes as Clod goes'. There are various ways CMC can proceed, but Kobe has the size to disrupt $c's top scorer (who is a load) as they're both 6'6". Musselman will likely try to speed up the game pace, which puts the zebras center stage. And, B10 refs have long carried the reputation of making the home crowd happy. Point being, Kobe is a cat with only 5 lives.
Should be a ballburner....