Matt Painter up to his old tricks again. Purdue has been a perennial loser in February on the way to March except last year when they broke the skid. Defense is faltering and is allowing 45% shooting while still hitting 49.2% on offense. Purdue has lost four in a row after having a good season led by Braden Smith. But Smith led the team with six turnovers in their last game, a loss at Indiana. Because of that bad game at Indiana, I see Smith taking charge and being the leader in a Purdue victory. Also, 10 days ago it was UCLA losing at home as an 11-point favorite to Minnesota. That team is still in the locker room somewhere and comes out tonight. Purdue.

Purdue has some of the best offensive numbers in the Big Ten when it comes to home games in conference play, but the defense has been absolutely diced up in the last couple of weeks. Those two factors have contributed to the over going 7-1 in Purdue's home conference games, and I think UCLA has enough quality frontcourt players to take advantage of what's been one of the worst two-point percentage defenses in the Big Ten this season.