Kentucky vs. UCLA College Basketball Preview, TV Schedule, Prediction

TV Schedule: Thursday, Dec. 3, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN

Stadium: Pauley Pavilion

The Kentucky Wildcats and UCLA Bruins will meet up for a December matchup. Who said college basketball couldn’t get any better? Typically, you would see two powerhouses like this meeting up in the tournament … not taking the court against one another during the regular season.

Side note: Kentucky crushed UCLA by the score of 83-44 last season.

Nonetheless, they will duke it out, and it is the Wildcats who will be the heavy favorites. Kentucky enters this one not only with a perfect record, but with the No. 1 ranking in the country as well. UCLA, on the other hand, has already lost three times in the 2015-16 season. However, it does get home-court advantage.

UCLA has had a rough go at things to start the season. It lost to the Monmouth Hawks to open 2015-16, after all. It also holds losses to the Kansas Jayhawks and Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Needless to say, the Bruins need a big win that could help turn their season around — and this game has all of that written all over it.

The only problem is that the Wildcats already look like a national title contender, despite losing so much NBA talent in the offseason, and Bryce Alford is not shooting at a high rate. Sure, he is leading the team in scoring, but his 28.1 percent three-point shooting is not going to lead this team to the dance … or to a victory over the Wildcats.

UCLA needs this win to stay on the map, but how many people really see that one happening?

PREDICTION: Wildcats 76, Bruins 69

Trevor Lowry is a Content Associate at www.RantSports.com. If you’re a tweeter feel free to follow him @TheTrevorLowry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.