Bruins, No. 10 Illinois Have Common Opponent That Reveals Plenty

The Bruins have just come off of a rough two game stretch in Michigan, suffering blowout losses to the #2 and #15 teams in the nation respectively.

That stretch of matches is not even the end of UCLA's troubles as they near March, with one more ranked match coming up against the #10 Illinois Fighting Illini.

UCLA, Donovan Den — Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr., right, makes a 3-pointer against UCLA's Donovan Dent during the first half on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The two teams have had very little overlap this season, but they have both upset the same opponent who had the same ranking in consecutive games: the Purdue Boilermakers.

Therefore, it could be of use to see which team will be able to dominate on defense and which will soar on offense to try and predict the games outcome before it even happens.

Based On Purdue Upsets... UCLA Will Win On Defense

Michigan State's Coen Carr makes a 3-pointer against UCLA during the second half on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While many factors come into play with defense, it has been clear across the season that the Bruins are able to make games swing in their favor through defense, and that will hopefully be the case against Illinois.

This is because UCLA let up only 67 points to the former #4 ranked team in Purdue, and the Fighting Illini let up an astoundingly larger 82 points in total.

UCLA, Xavier Booke — Michigan State's Jaxon Kohler, left, shakes hands with former teammate UCLA's Xavier Booker after the game on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Bruins can handle defense as they did against Purdue another top tier upset could be on the way and it would be Illinois downfall, as they couldn't seem to shut down the same Boilermakers team that was still shaken and shooting poorly after UCLA.

Based On Purdue Upsets... Illinois Will Win On Offense

Feb 18, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward David Mirkovic (0) shoots the ball against Southern California Trojans forward Ezra Ausar (2), forward Terrance Williams II (5) and guard Jerry Easter II (8) in the second half at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On the other hand it looks like the Fighting Illini will easily win the battle on offense for many reasons, starting with their win against Purdue, of course.

They put up 87 points for a winning margin of five, and they scored 18 points more in total against the same Purdue defense that UCLA was only able to score 69 points on.

Furthermore, the Bruins offense has not been the best as of late, especially in the rough stretch of Michigan where some fans were starting to think the hoops were rigged for UCLA to be missing so much.

UCLA, Mick Cronin — UCLA's head coach Mick Cronin reacts during the first half against Michigan State on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Illinois has not been like that, and their offense has typically been a strength of theirs this season, but both Fighting Illini and Bruins fans will just have to wait to see if offense outweighs defense.

However, as the saying goes, defense wins championships, and it could be the edge that lets UCLA attain an upset victory against the #10 team in the nation.

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