UCLA Bruins vs Northwestern Wildcats Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 03/03/25

UCLA looks to end their road trip on a high note as they get ready to take on the Northwestern Wildcats in their final road game of the season.  The Bruins are coming off a tough loss to Purdue on Friday where they played well, shooting 48% from the field, but they failed to score a single point in nearly 5 minutes, which helped Purdue run away with that game. Northwestern has won 3 in a row, which include victories over Ohio State, Minnesota and Iowa. The Bruins have lost 3 of their last 5, and if they want any chance of becoming a top-4 team in their conference tournament, they’re going to need to secure a victory in tonight’s matchup.

This matchup is likely to be a defensive battle and it’s going to be tough for either team to score.  The Bruins are averaging 74.4 points per game this season and love to smother their opponents on the court, giving up just 65 ppg this season, which is the best in the Big Ten. As for Northwestern, they too are relentless on defense, giving up just 69 ppg, putting them 4th-best in the Big Ten. The Wildcats have been plagued with injuries this season where they lost 2 of their top 3 scorers, but Nick Martinelli has been a huge part of this Wildcats offense as of late, averaging 19.9 ppg this season, and they’ll need him to step up big against this tough UCLA defense. As for the Bruins, I think this is where they have a slight advantage in tonight’s matchup. They have Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr. averaging 13.9 ppg and 11.5 ppg respectively, and despite neither of them scoring a ton of points, they have more weapons than the Wildcats. However, despite UCLA having a slight advantage on offense, I love the way this Wildcats team is playing right now. I think this is going to be a low-scoring game, but Northwestern is getting points at home and they’re looking to keep things rolling to secure a spot in the Big Ten tournament. Even if the Wildcats don’t win, I think they’ll keep it close enough to cover the spread in their final home game of the season.  

UCLA vs Northwestern prediction: Northwestern +3.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

You can bet on our UCLA vs Northwestern pick at DraftKings Sportsbook, which has thousands of betting options available and a great new customer offer where you can get $150 in bonus bets INSTANTLY when you make a first bet of just $5! Click here 👈🏼 to sign up for a DraftKings account now.