March Madness Sweet 16 Odds Preview: UCLA Bruins vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs

The No. 11 UCLA Bruins are 12-3 against the spread over their last 15 games and 6-0 ATS in their last six games as the betting underdog. The Bruins will be an underdog once again this Friday when they face the No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 at NRG Stadium.

UCLA is an 8.5-point underdog for Friday, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. When these two teams met back on Dec. 13, Gonzaga came away with an 87-74 victory over the Bruins.

From Nov. 26 to Jan. 4 the UCLA Bruins went just 4-7 SU and 1-10 ATS, taking them off many bettors' radars. But over their last 15 games the Bruins are 11-4 SU and 12-3 ATS with a 4-0 ATS record over their last four games.

Norman Powell (16.4 points per game) and Bryce Alford (15.1) give this Bruins offense plenty of firepower, and the team is playing a lot better than it was the last time it faced the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

For Gonzaga, this season was always all about March Madness. With only two blemishes on the record all year, the 34-2 SU Bulldogs are aiming for the first trip to the Final Four in the program's history. Kyle Wiltjer leads a Bulldogs attack that ranks 10th in the nation offensively with 79.1 PPG. Gonzaga is 0-4 SU in its last four trips to the Sweet 16 and 5-11 ATS in its last 16 March Madness games.

The UNDER is 11-0 in UCLA's last 11 games as an underdog while the OVER is 5-0 in Gonzaga's last five games overall. Friday's total for the Bruins vs. Bulldogs betting matchup is set at 145 points at the sportsbooks.

No. 2 seeds are 7-0 SU and 4-2-1 ATS over No. 11 seeds in seven meetings since 1996 and 8-1 SU overall in their past nine Sweet 16 games. Gonzaga has the talent and the depth to take care of business in this game, but all of the pressure is on the Bulldogs; and as the UCLA Bruins have shown in recent months, they are comfortable playing as an underdog.