The second-seeded UConn Huskies and seventh-seeded UCLA Bruins take the court Sunday in a Second Round matchup in Philadelphia.
UConn moved on to Round 2 after a hard-fought 82-71 opening-round victory over Furman. The Huskies’ offense was dominated by center Tarris Reed Jr., who posted a historic 31-point, 27-rebound performance to secure the win. His 27 rebounds were more than the entire Furman team pulled down in the game. UConn advanced despite playing without their starting point guard Silas Demary Jr. (undisclosed) His availability against UCLA’s ball pressure is critical.
UCLA advanced to the second round by edging out UCF 75-71, a win they achieved despite the absence of leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau (knee). In his stead, Eric Dailey Jr. stepped up with a 20-point performance, while Trent Perry provided late-game heroics to seal the victory. For the Bruins to pull off the upset on Sunday, they will likely need Bilodeau back in the lineup to battle on the boards.
This is the first meeting between these NCAA basketball blue bloods. The winner advances to the Sweet 16 and a date against the winner of Michigan State and Louisville.
Lets take a closer look at this Round 2 matchup and take into consideration lineups, injuries, and other factors affecting the line and total.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch tipoff, odds courtesy of DraftKings recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Game Details and How to Watch Live: UConn vs. UCLA
- Date: Sunday, March 22, 2026
- Time: 8:45PM EST
- Site: Xfinity Arena
- City: Philadelphia, PA
- Network/Streaming: TNT
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Game Odds: UConn vs. UCLA
The latest odds as of Saturday courtesy of DraftKings:
- Moneyline: UConn Huskies (-185), UCLA Bruins (+154)
- Spread: UConn -4.5
- Total: 137.5 Points
This game opened UConn -4.5 with the Total set at 139.5.
Be sure to check out DraftKings for all the latest game odds & player props for every matchup this week on the NCAA Basketball schedule!
Expected Starting Lineups: UConn vs. UCLA
UConn Huskies
- G Malachi Smith
- G Solo Ball
- G Braylon Mullins
- F Alex Karaban
- F Tarris Reed Jr.
UCLA Bruins
- G Skyy Clark
- G Trent Perry
- G Eric Dailey Jr.
- G Donovan Dent
- F Xavier Booker
Important stats, trends and insights: UConn vs. UCLA
- UConn is 13-22 ATS overall this season
- UCLA is 17-18 ATS overall this season
- The OVER has cashed in 17 of UConn’s 35 games this season (17-18)
- The OVER has cashed in only 17 of St. John’s 35 games this season (17-18)
- Alex Karaban broke out of a mini-shooting slump going 9-16 from the field including 4-9 from deep
- Donovan Dent was just 4-17 from the field in Friday’s win
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NCAA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Sunday’s game between UConn and UCLA:
- Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on UConn on the Moneyline
- Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on UConn -4.5
- Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 136.5
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