Some blueblood history here, as UCLA makes a first-ever trip to Assembly Hall after facing Indiana in more-famous meetings on neutral courts (including Finals Fours in 1973 & '76, and a ballyhooed season opener that season) during the mid 70s. We're keeping an eye on the Hoosiers who surprisingly responded to HC Mike Woodson's announced departure (effective end of season) with a rousing upset at Michigan State on Tuesday. IU had lost five straight and seven of eight prior, with Woodson lamenting his team's lack of toughness. Just as the Hoosier season was falling apart, UCLA began to surge, winning seven straight into Tuesday's close loss at Illinois, also a Bruins spread cover (they're 4-0-1 vs. the line their last five). Play UCLA.

Indiana's Malik Reneau has gotten past his knee injury and averaged 17.5 rebounds and 7.5 rebounds over the past two games. Reneau sparked Indiana's 71-67 win at Michigan State on Tuesday, and he and Oumar Ballo (9.6 rpg) should give the Hoosiers an edge on the boards versus UCLA. The Bruins' troubles traveling east are well-documented. While they are elite defensively, Indiana has enough secondary scoring options like Luke Goode (41.4 percent on 3-pointers) to keep this close if not win outright.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin complains about long commutes to road games in the Bruins' new, expansive league. Given that they are 0-5 straight-up in games to the right side of the U.S. map from Arizona, his frustration is well-founded. Their recent seven-game hot streak unfolded entirely out west. Indiana comes off its peak performance of the season, a beatdown of Michigan State. The Hoosiers can sustain the momentum while continuing to send out retiring coach Mike Woodson in style. While the season has been a downer, Indiana does stand 9-5 ATS at home.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin made a big deal about his team's travel, the Bruins performance has given him reason for complaints as the team is now 0-5 outside of the Pacific or Mountain time zones. But this second leg of a Midwest back-to-back gives UCLA a chance to snap that trend against an Indiana team that's riding high off its win against Michigan State. Indiana's zone that flummoxed Sparty won't be a surprise to Cronin, who was actually happy with the way his team stormed back from a big deficit against Illinois. With a couple days to get acclimated to the time change and flush out what's been a team-wide illness, I'm guessing we get a bounce-back performance from the better team in this matchup.