Pregame Guide and Prediction: #10 Illinois @ UCLA

Illinois will conclude their California trip with UCLA. The Bruins are led by head coach Mick Cronin. In his 7th season in Westwood, Cronin's seat has become a little hot. He led the Bruins to the final four from the first four back in 2021. He had a couple of good teams following that season, but the last two years has not been great. His attitude with the media and even his own players have not helped. Some are even questioning if he is actively trying to get fired. UCLA came into the season ranked number 12 in the country, but as we are approaching March, they are sitting firmly on the bubble. UCLA is just 2-7 in quadrant 1 games with one of those being a win over Washington. UCLA's win over Purdue is the only reason they are even in the tournament field currently. Like USC, UCLA's desire for another marquee win is at an all-time high. Time is running out for UCLA, and Illinois offers a great chance for them to pick things up. We will see if UCLA is up to the challenge more than USC was on Wednesday night.

Here is everything you need to know about UCLA:

Donavan Dent was brought in from New Mexico. He was one of the most highly sought after players in the transfer portal. Many had him listed as a preseason All-American following his Mountain West Player of the Year campaign in 2025. I don't want to be harsh because Dent is still a good player, but if we are being completely honest, he has not lived up to the hype placed on him this offseason. Dent is averaging 13 points per game and is only shooting 17% from three. His assists numbers are up to nearly 7 a game and he has limited the number of turnovers this season. So, no his season has not been a complete disaster, but it has been underwhelming. Dent is a speedier guard who has a quick first step. He has the ability to knife his way into the paint like other guards Illinois struggled against. Nick Boyd and Jeremy Fears had the same ability, and they exposed Illinois for it. Luckily, Kylan Boswell provides Illinois with a safety blanket, which was not equipped when the Illini took on Wisconsin and MSU.

Trent Perry starts at the shooting guard position. Perry is in his second season in the UCLA program. He was a former McDonald's All-American. His usage and averages have skyrocketed since his freshman season. Perry is one of the best shooters in the conference. He is currently shooting 44% from beyond the arc, and he won't be the last good shooter we talk about. Perry is also a plus defender and is a pretty underrated all-around player in this year's Big Ten.

Eric Dailey is a big-bodied wing for the Bruins. He uses his size, strength, and defensive ability well, which makes him a solid high-major starter. Dailey is a good finisher at the rim but is an overall streaky shooter. He struggled against Illinois in Champaign last season, so he might be looking to bounce back from an individual perspective.

UCLA's best player is Tyler Bilodeau. Illinois fans may remember from last year's matchup. Bilodeau hit 7 threes against the Illini and was basically the sole reason UCLA had a chance of winning. Bilodeau by far should be the scariest aspect of this game for Illinois. The Illini are vulnerable to pick-and-pop bigs like Bilodeau. He is averaging 18 points per game on 46% from 3. I actually think Ben Humrichous should see plenty of playing time because I think he is the best fit for slowing Bilodeau down. If UCLA wins, I can almost guarantee you that Bilodeau will play a huge role in it.

At center, UCLA starts Xavier Booker. He was a 5-star prospect coming out of high school and spent his first two seasons with Tom Izzo in East Lansing. It did not pan out, so he transferred to UCLA this offseason. This move did not make sense to me in the summer because going from Izzo to Cronin does not seem much like a change of scenery from a coaching style perspective. Booker has been better this year, but he is nowhere near how he was projected in high school. Booker's three-point shot has improved vastly. His attempts per game are down, but he is shooting 41% from 3 and is another stretch big Illinois will have to worry about.

Off the bench UCLA has someone who needs no introduction. Skyy Clark is in his second season with the Bruins following a (half) season at Illinois and a season at Louisville. It felt just like yesterday when Skyy left the Illinois program following being benched in an early January game against Northwestern. Skyy then announced his commitment to Louisville just seconds after Illinois was eliminated in the round of 64 that season. Illinois got the better of Skyy last season with a hostile crowd behind them. Enough time has passed in my opinion to have these tensions cool down just a little. This game obviously won't be in Champaign and there seems to be no animosity from Skyy to Illinois at this point. I think Illinois had their moment when they met last season. Plus, if were being completely honest, Illinois won the breakup by a significant margin. Illinois fans will always remember his poor play, but Skyy has actually developed into a good Big Ten player. He has constantly been dealing with injuries. In fact, he missed over a month this season with a hamstring injury. The only reason Skyy comes off the bench now is because of the injury. Clark is just in his 3rd game back since the injury. Skyy has become an elite shooter. He is shooting 48% from 3 and provides UCLA with another knockdown sniper off the bench. Skyy is also the team's best perimeter defender.

UCLA's production off the bench after Skyy falls off. Jamar Brown provides some size at the guard position and is another solid shooter for UCLA. Brandon Williams has not done anything of significance in a Big Ten game. Steven Jamerson gets 10 minutes a game at the center spot. He is most known for getting ejected by Cronin in UCLA's last game against MSU. Let me clarify, the refs did not eject him, but Cronin did.

Overall, as a team, UCLA is in dire need of another huge win to put them on the right side of the bubble. I would imagine they give Illinois their best shot and put together a much better performance than USC did. UCLA is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. They also defend the 3 pretty well. That part does not necessarily concern me, but UCLA's ability to stretch the floor and light it up on offense does.

Prediction:

Teams have struggled in game two of their west coast trips. The only two teams that have swept this particular trip were Minnesota and Michigan last season. It is really difficult to come out and win both games. Even last season, Illinois destroyed Oregon in game one, but it took some winning plays late to defeat an awful Washington team last season in game two of the trip. I think Illinois is going to have their hands full trying to keep UCLA off the three-point line. UCLA needs this win more than Illinois does. Combine all these reasons, and I am picking UCLA to pull off the home upset. But don't get too mad with me, because spoiler alert, I will be picking Illinois to beat Michigan next week.

I'll take UCLA 76-74

It's the Tomislav Ivisic game