Purdue got an easy victory over the Cornhuskers yesterday. UCLA is still dealing with an injury to Tyler Bilodeau, who’s expected to be back for the big dance. The Bruins won the only meeting between these two and that was at home. UCLA has struggled all season on the road but they’ve won four straight and are playing their best basketball of the season, led by Donovan Dent. The Bruins defend the perimeter better than Purdue and it appears Mick Cronin’s players have bought back in down the stretch.

It's the semi-finals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament at the United Center in Chicago, with Purdue a 7.5-point favorite against UCLA. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two schools, with UCLA winning 69-67 in Los Angeles as a 5.5-point underdog. Purdue played well that day with only seven turnovers, but UCLA shot 57% from the field to win. Purdue won and covered yesterday against Nebraska, ending a 0-5 ATS run. They've lost four of their last eight games. UCLA is playing its best basketball of the season and comes off a win over Michigan State. UCLA to cover.

UCLA advancing to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals is no surprise. The Bruins have been playing lights-out lately. However, so has Purdue, which took down Northwestern and second seed Nebraska by a combined 29 points in Chicago. Worse for UCLA, its most pruductive player Tyler Bilodeau (18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) likely will sit out with a knee injury suffered Friday. The Boilers know him well, having endured an end-of-game basket by Bilodeau that beat them last season. UCLA has stated its case for a decent NCAA Tourney seed and should let Bilodeau rest for more important business. While the Bruins finished off Michigan State with him on the bench, Purdue gets to game-plan knowing his absence is probable.