Arizona State-UCLA: pregame

The Bruins (24-3 overall, 12-2 in the Pac-10) are a 6 1/2-point choice to defeat Arizona State tonight in Tempe. The Sun Devils started the season hot at 14-2 and 4-0 in the conference, but are 3-7 since then. The over-under line is set at 125, so the oddsmakers think the final will be 66-59 for the Bruins.

>> UCLA has won seven straight against the Sun Devils and lead the series, 55-14. The games at Wells Fargo Arena, however, have been difficult. The Bruins have won the last three games there by a combined total of 11 points: 86-82 in 2005, 61-60 in 2006 and 67-61 last season.

>> ASU has a strong home record of 12-3, but UCLA is even better on the road at 7-1. Some bracketeers think the Sun Devils are in fairly good shape, but could really use a win tonight to cement their case. Seth Davis wrote on SI.com:

ASU is 5-7 in its last 12 games, so a win over the No. 10 [RPI] Bruins would pretty much lock up a bid. At the very least, if they lose this one, they’ll need to beat USC at home on Saturday. If, on the other hand, they get swept at home by the L.A. schools, they will be in a precarious spot.

Arizona is considered a little surer bet for the tournament because of its difficult nonconference schedule.

>> SI.com’s Grant Wahl compiled an excellent article on just how rough things are getting for opposing teams in some arenas around the country. Included is the best reporting we’ve seen so far of just how bad it was for Kevin Love and his family at the UCLA-Oregon game in Eugene. Hint: It was bad.

>> The Bruins would like to see Josh Shipp end his 0-20 slump from three-point range tonight and the Sun Devils will depend on Latvian import Rihards Kuksiks for some three-point support to help its interior scorers Jeff Pendergraph and freshman James Harden.

Kuksiks told Norm Frauenheim of the Arizona Republic that "my English sometimes is not so good," but he’s done well enough to get through a year of prep school at the Florida Air Academy (also attended by UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute) and now most of his freshman season at Arizona State. According to Frauenheim, Kuksiks is still looking for a good bowl of borscht!

>> The Bruins are second in the conference in field-goal percentage at 48.5% and have improved their field-goal defense to 42.1%, fifth-best in the league, and are best in the Pac-10 in rebounding defense at 27.0 per game. Arizona State shoots only 46.7% from the field (seventh), but opponents are only hitting 40.9% against the Sun Devils: That’s third-best in the league. The two teams are 1-2 in the league in steals (UCLA 7.56 per game to ASU’s 6.96) and both have positive turnover ratios.