No. 1 seed Michigan Wolverines basketball is set for its fourth Elite Eight appearance in the last eight NCAA Tournaments. The Maize and Blue will take on No. 11 seed UCLA at 9:57 p.m. ET Tuesday night with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Michigan beat No. 16 Texas Southern, No. 8 LSU and, most recently, No. 4 Florida State en route to the East Regional Final. UCLA, on the other hand, took a different route, having to play in the First Four.
The Bruins are just the second team in history to advance from the play-in round all the way to the Elite Eight and are looking to become the second of such teams to make the Final Four.
The Bruins then handled No. 6 seed BYU, 73-62, in the round of 64, before blowing out No. 14 seed Abilene Christian, who beat No. 3 seed Texas in the first round, 67-47, setting up a thriller against No. 2 seed Alabama. The game against the Crimson Tide Sunday night went into overtime, before the Bruins prevailed, 88-78.
Below is information on the game, a insight on the matchup, a breakdown of each team's lineup, a Q&A with Rick Kimbrel of BruinBlitz.com and much more.
RELATED: Five Quick Takes On Michigan Drawing UCLA In The Elite Eight
RELATED: Five Takeaways From Michigan's Sweet 16 Win Over Florida State
Michigan Wolverines Basketball vs. UCLA Bruins: Game Time, Betting Line, How To Watch, More
Date: Tuesday, March 30
Time: 9:57 p.m. ET
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium — South Court (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Channel: TBS (Stream: March Madness Live)
On The Call: Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst) & Allie LaForce (sideline)
Radio: Detroit: WWJ-Radio (950 AM) | Ann Arbor: WWWW (102.9 FM)
On The Call: Brian Boesch (play-by-play) & Terry Mills (analyst)
Line: Michigan -7
Over/Under: 136
KenPom Prediction: Michigan 71, UCLA 66 (69 percent chance of a Wolverine win)
Clayton Sayfie Prediction: Michigan 75, UCLA 65
The Matchup
UCLA is known for its potent offense. The Bruins, who play with the slowest tempo in the Pac-12, like to control the pace and take their time. They also take care of the ball and only turn it over on 15.8 percent of their possessions (29th nationally).
The attack is predicated largely on dribble drive penetration and kick-outs — derived a lot of the time from ball-screen action — and isolation opportunities for the Bruins' capable wings.
UCLA will have the chance to exploit Michigan's drop coverage while guarding the pick-and-roll. The Bruins are in the 94th percentile nationally on mid-range jump shots, shooting 46.8 percent on such looks, while the Wolverines focus primarily on not allowing open threes and easy looks at the rim, and are usually willing to give up mid-range to long twos. UCLA is extremely good at shooting off the dribble, converting on 42.8 percent of such shots (18th in the country).
Bruins' sophomore point guard Tyger Campbell does a lot of the probing, and he's elite at finding the open guy either underneath on a cut or at the three-point line for an open jumper after collapsing the defense. There are at least four shooters on the floor at a time — which means Michigan junior forward Brandon Johns will have to play more on the perimeter defensively — and the Bruins shoot 37.2 percent from three as a team (34th nationally).
