College Basketball Betting: No. 2 UCLA Rallies to Edge No. 10 Michigan State

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (left) and Raymar Morgan battle for the ball. (AP Images)

Kevin Love faced his stiffest test of his college basketball career. He passed, but not without difficulty. The UCLA Bruins’ super freshman had a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-63 come-from-behind win over No. 10 Michigan State in the championship game of the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday night.

No. 2 UCLA trailed by 11 at halftime at the Sprint Center before Love helped lead a spirited rally in the second half. He converted a three-point play to pull the Bruins within 63-61 then Luc Richard Mbah a Moute hit back-to-back field goals, slamming home two points to even the score and hitting a three-pointer that proved to be the winning basket.

The Spartans beat the point spread, which was 5.5 in favor of UCLA. The betting total fell one point under the total of 132.

Josh Shipp had 18 points for the Bruins while All-America guard Drew Neitzel led Michigan State with 13. The game was supposed to be a clash between Neitzel and fell All-America guard Darren Collison, but the UCLA guard sat out with an injury.

In other Top 25 action on Tuesday:

No. 1 North Carolina 110, South Carolina State 64: Tyler Hansbrough dropped 26 points to lead the favored Tar Heels at Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 3 Memphis 84, Arkansas State 63: The Tigers continued their hot start, getting 22 points from Willie Kemp to improve to 5-0. Memphis failed to cover the 27-point spread.

No. 7 Tennessee 109, Middle Tennessee 40: JaJuan Smith posted a career-high 32 points for the host Volunteers, who were favored by 22.

No. 8 Indiana 95, UNC-Wilmington 71: Eric Gordon’s 30 points powered an overwhelming Hoosier attack in Bloomington, Ind. The Hoosiers were 20-point favorites.

No. 11 Marquette 91, Oklahoma State 61: Jerel McNeal led the Golden Eagles with 20 points and into the finals of the Maui Invitational. Marquette blew away the point spread, which favored it by four.

St. Mary’s 99, No. 12 Oregon 87: The Gaels pulled the upset in Moraga, Calif., as center Omar Samhan scored 18 points. The Ducks entered as 2.5-point favorites.

No. 13 Duke 79, Illinois 66: The Blue Devils improved to 11-0 all-time at the Maui Invitational and earned a spot in Wednesday’s final as Gerald Henderson scored 23 points and DeMarcus Nelson added 16. Duke covered the 7.5-point spread.

No. 23 Virginia 72, Drexel 58: Sean Singletary netted 24 points to lead the Cavaliers in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia was favored by 10.5 points.

No. 25 Florida 102, North Florida 51: The two-time defending champs are back in the top 25 and wanted to show they belong. Marreese Speights posted 20 points and 12 rebounds as the favored Gators upped their home winning streak to 24.

For college basketball odds for Wednesday, check out the Bodog Sportsbook.