UCLA vs. USC: College Basketball Best Bets & Picks (Thursday)

Georgetown ended a 29-game Big East losing streak with a five-point win over DePaul on Tuesday night. After that win, 11 teams entered Wednesday with winless records in conference play this year. Louisville, Texas Tech, IUPUI, Evansville, and VMI all played yesterday, and all lost their respective league games. Of the remaining winless teams in conference play, Monmouth, LIU, and Pepperdine play tonight. Will any of them record their first wins?

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings)

Here are our best bets for Thursday’s college basketball action. And below is a closer look at UCLA vs. USC.

Check out our other top picks for Thursday:

• NBA Best Bets, Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NBA Same Game Parlay Odds, Picks & Predictions
• Best NBA Player Prop Bet Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NBA First Basket Scorer Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NBA Player Prop Bet Rankings Picks & Predictions
• Top 3 NHL Best Bets, Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NHL Same Game Parlay Odds, Picks & Predictions

YTD (as of 1/21): 5-10

Best College Basketball Bets for Thursday: UCLA vs. USC

Here are our best bets for Thursday’s college basketball action.

UCLA vs. USC

From a sheer rivalry game perspective, this is too many points to lay in a rivalry game, especially as UCLA is coming off an emotional loss at Arizona, where a win would have all but assured them the regular season Pac-12 title. In addition, USC easily covered as 11-point road underdogs at UCLA on January 5th and has a path to an outright upset this time.

Many argued the Trojans would be vulnerable to the Bruins’ mid-range game in their first matchup, considering UCLA was not likely to challenge USC’s elite rim protection (the Trojans rank third with a 41.7% 2-point percentage allowed). However, USC extended its half-court pressure and neutralized leading scorer Jaime Jaquez (16.1 points per game), as his 12 points were tied for his third-lowest scoring output of the season. The Bruins only committed eight turnovers in their first matchup and out-rebounded the Trojans 36-30, and USC still only lost by two despite shooting 3-for-16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc.

The underdog has covered four of the previous five meetings between these teams, which bodes well for USC’s chances tonight.

Bet: USC +5.5 (-110 at DraftKings)

Go premium to view top prop bets based on Cover Probability, Expected Value & Star Rating >>

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | Breaker | Castbox | Pocket Casts

Whether you're new to sports betting or a betting pro, our How To Bet and Sports Betting Strategy and Advice pages are for you. You can get started with our How To Section - including How to Avoid the 7 Biggest Sports Betting Mistakes - or head to more advanced strategy - like Thinking Like an Expert Sports Bettor - to learn more.

Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.