UCLA Basketball: Bruins Have to Win on the Road
The UCLA Basketball team roll into Eugene this evening to take on the 21st-ranked Oregon Ducks and have the opportunity to win both games of a conference road trip for the first time since Ben Howland was coach of the Bruins.
Winning on the road in college basketball is hard.
In fact, according to this data collected by RPI Rankings, home teams win a whopping 67.62% of the time. It’s been especially hard for the Bruins, who haven’t won both games of an away trip since the 2012-2013 season.
However, if UCLA wants this to be a special season, they’re going to have to win away from Pauley.
Opportunity to be Great
While the ultimate prize for the Bruins would be an NCAA championship, the immediate focus should be on winning the Pac-12. Since the 2012-2013 season, the team with the most road wins has won the conference.
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It’s difficult to overstate how hard road wins can be to come by in conference play. Last season both Oregon and Cal went undefeated in home games while Utah, Colorado, and Arizona had only 1 loss in their own arenas.
No team that finished .500 or better in conference play had more than two losses at home.
UCLA has a huge target on it’s back with it’s #2 ranking and you can bet every team is going to be fired up in front of a sold out crowd to get that big win.
It doesn’t help that the Bruins away schedule consists of what are traditionally the best conference teams in Arizona, Oregon, and Utah. To reiterate, these teams combined to only lose two games at home last season.
UCLA has its best start in a decade and with the win in Rupp Arena over #1 Kentucky, the Bruins have proven they can win in anyone’s house. However, the season is far from over and for UCLA to take it’s next step, it needs to continue to win away from Westwood.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the game tonight against Oregon and a win would be a great first step toward winning the Pac-12. Go Bruins!
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