Ohio State Buckeyes vs UCLA Bruins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 02/23/25

One of the best situational spots of the weekend comes in the Big Ten, as the Ohio State Buckeyes are hitting the west coast for a date in Southern California with the UCLA Bruins on Sunday. While the metrics would tell you that Ohio State is a top 40 team this season, that hasn’t stopped the Buckeyes from feeling like a roller coaster of a team throughout conference play. That hasn’t changed in recent games, as Ohio State lost a heartbreaker to Michigan in which it played up to the level of competition, only to follow that up with a disastrous home loss to Northwestern as a double-digit favorite. Now, the Buckeyes have to travel across the country and play a game less than 72 hours removed from that defeat, against a UCLA team that is coming off a disastrous loss to Minnesota at home on Tuesday. It’s safe to say that practice probably hasn’t been very fun this week for Mick Cronin’s team, and we can expect a big response from what should be a motivated Bruins side in this one.

It goes without saying that Big Ten teams traveling to the west coast this season have experienced issues in the first game of these often two-game road trips. I wouldn’t expect that to change on Sunday, as Ohio State has been a team that’s struggled mightily away from home this season. The Buckeyes have also experienced major issues with turning the ball over in conference play, ranking at the bottom of the Big Ten in offensive turnover rate. That spells trouble against a UCLA team that makes its money on the defensive end by speeding up opposing offenses, forcing turnovers and turning those turnovers into points on the other end. On the other side, UCLA is certainly due for some positive regression as well, with the Bruins offense sitting outside the top 250 in 2-point and 3-point percentage over the last couple of weeks, despite generating consistently solid looks. Ohio State is also 315th in free throw rate allowed over the last month (Barttorvik), so we can expect the Bruins to still grind out possessions and get to the line if things break down in the halfcourt. All things considered, let’s lay the points with the home team out west.

Ohio State vs UCLA prediction: UCLA -6.5 available at time of publishing. Playable to 7.

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