Bet on the Arizona State Sun Devils to cash as big road underdog after upset

UCLA is coming off an undefeated February and has already clinched its first Pac-12 regular season title in 11 years. Next on the to-do list for the fourth-ranked Bruins: Put the finishing touches on a perfect season at famed Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA can take another step closer to accomplishing that goal with a victory over visiting Arizona State on Thursday night.

It’s a victory that the college basketball betting community fully expects, as the Bruins are laying double digits at home. Then again, that community fully expected Arizona to defend its home floor against Arizona State on Saturday, but that didn’t exactly go according to plan.

In fact, the Sun Devils have been frisky in opposing Pac-12 venues all season. Does that mean UCLA’s 15-0 home record and eight-game overall winning streak are in jeopardy Thursday? Seems unlikely.

That said, a one-sided Bruins victory seems just as unlikely, with ASU riding a wave of momentum at just the right time.

Odds updated as of 11 a.m. ET on March 2.

Before traveling south to Tucson on Saturday, the Sun Devils hadn’t been an underdog of more than 7.5 points all season. But they took the court at the McKale Center as a 12.5-point pup.

Whether or not coach Bobby Hurley used that huge point spread as motivation in his pregame speech is unknown. What is known, though, is Arizona State played inspired basketball against its hated rivals. The Sun Devils overcame a 10-point deficit with 6:30 to play, pulled to within one point with 22 seconds remaining, then completed their comeback when guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from well beyond half court for an 89-88 win.

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Arizona State’s 20th victory of the season was stunning for a bunch of reasons — the massive point spread, Cambridge’s ridiculous shot and the fact it was the program’s second win at the McKale Center since 2010. But in another way, it wasn’t all that stunning at all. Because while the Sun Devils split their 10 conference home games this season — going a putrid 2-8 ATS — they’ve been a completely different team on the highway.

With the upset in Tucson, Arizona State (20-9) improved to 6-2 in Pac-12 road games. And one of the setbacks was a three-point overtime loss at Washington.

Of course, Arizona is the only conference team the Sun Devils have faced on the road that is as talented as UCLA. That automatically makes Thursday’s game in Los Angeles an extremely daunting back-to-back — not to mention potential letdown — situation for ASU.

At the same time, though, it’s also a revenge situation. Because when the Bruins visited Tempe on Jan. 19, the Sun Devils took a five-point halftime lead (with Cambridge, ironically, drilling a halfcourt shot at the buzzer). Then the second half started and UCLA took over, outscoring Arizona State 44-27 over the final 20 minutes and cruising to a 74-62 win as a 5-point road chalk.

That result — coupled with UCLA’s sensational 25-4 overall record, 8-0 performance in February and perfect mark at home — is why the Sun Devils are catching double digits for a second straight game.

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But it’s not like the Bruins have been consistently thumping opponents lately.

Immediately after the 12-point victory in Tempe, UCLA lost back-to-back road games to Arizona and USC. The team has since run off eight straight wins, but only three were lopsided: 76-52 vs. Washington State, 62-47 at Oregon State and 78-43 over Cal.

The latter two teams anchor the bottom of the Pac-12 standings with combined league records of 6-30.

Also, the Bruins are coming off two down-to-the-wire road wins over Utah (78-71) and Colorado (60-56), both as a 7-point favorite. With those two non-covers, UCLA comes into Thursday just 4-5-1 ATS in its last 10 contests.

Another thing that favors ASU on Thursday: UCLA closes out its regular season (and home schedule) against Arizona on Saturday.

Might the Bruins be looking ahead to their rematch with the Wildcats (who are UCLA’s biggest rival not named USC)? We think it’s possible.

Throw in the fact that Arizona State is 4-1 in its last five games, fighting for its NCAA Tournament life and has lost just twice all season by more than 12 points, and we’ll back the big road underdog at BetMGM.

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