LOS ANGELES – UCLA (6-3) hits the road to play at No. 20/17 Gonzaga (6-2) on Saturday evening. Game time is 7 p.m. Last season, Gonzaga defeated UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, 87-74, in a non-conference meeting on Dec. 13 before securing a 72-64 win over the Bruins in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament (March 27). Saturday's game will mark UCLA's first-ever trip to play Gonzaga on its home court and will be the Bruins' third contest this season against a top-25 ranked team.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000)
Tipoff Time: 7:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Pasch, Sean Farnham
Radio: AM 570
Radio Talent: Bill Roth (play-by-play), Darrick Martin (analyst)
SIRIUS/XM Channels: Ch. 81/Ch. 81
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
UCLA's non-conference schedule features four games against top-20 ranked teams (AP poll), including a pair of contests against top-five schools. Among Pac-12 programs, UCLA's non-conference schedule is rated the second-most challenging (behind Stanford) by both KenPom.com and WarrenNolan.com.
LOOKING BACK
UCLA won a pair of games in Pauley Pavilion last week to improve to 6-3, taking down No. 1-ranked Kentucky, 87-77, on Thursday, Dec. 3, before securing an 83-76 win over Long Beach State on Sunday evening. In the win over Long Beach State, the Bruins overcame a nine-point first half deficit and trailed at the break 38-37 before leading by as many as 12 points midway through the second half. Bryce Alford scored a season-high 24 points, Isaac Hamilton registered 21 points and UCLA's big men Tony Parker (16 pts, 10 rbs) and Thomas Welsh (15 pts, 10 rbs) each had double-doubles.
BRUINS DEFEAT KENTUCKY
Thomas Welsh registered team highs with 21 points and 11 rebounds in UCLA's 87-77 win over No. 1 Kentucky on Thursday, Dec. 3. Five UCLA players scored in double figures as the Bruins secured their first win over the nation's No. 1-ranked team since toppling No. 1 Arizona in overtime, 96-89, in a first-round game of the Pac-10 Tournament on March 13, 2003. UCLA led against Kentucky during the game's final 38 minutes and 10 seconds. The Bruins owned a 37-29 cushion at halftime and never trailed by fewer than nine points in the second half.
PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Thomas Welsh averaged 18.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in UCLA's two wins last week to secure Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. The 7-foot sophomore center from Redondo Beach, Calif., totaled team highs in points (21) and rebounds (11) against Kentucky last week.
NOTES ON NUMBER ONE
Prior to the win over Kentucky, UCLA had faced the nation's No. 1-ranked team five times since an overtime upset versus Arizona in March 2003. The Bruins were unable to get the win against Stanford (Feb. 2004), Kansas (Dec. 2009), Arizona (Jan. 2014), Florida (March 2014) and Kentucky (Dec. 2014).
THE LAST TIME
UCLA's win over Kentucky marked the program's first victory over a top-10 team since March 15, 2014, when the Bruins downed No. 4 Arizona, 75-71, in the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament championship. UCLA earned its first home win over the nation's No. 1 team since Jan. 12, 2002 (vs. No. 1 Kansas, 87-77).
NEARING 1,000
Junior guard Bryce Alford has scored a team-leading 995 career points, standing just five shy of becoming the 52nd player in program history to have scored 1,000 points. Alford currently leads UCLA in scoring (16.4 ppg), assists (5.4 apg) and assist-turnover ratio (2.0). The 6-foot-3 guard enters this Saturday's game ranking second on the team in both 3-point field goal percentage (34.0, 16/47) and free throw percentage (81.8, 36/44).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Tony Parker, a 6-foot-9 senior forward/center from Atlanta, has recorded six double-doubles in nine games. Parker has averaged 14.0 points and a Pac-12 leading 10.9 rebounds per game, scoring in double figures in all but one contest. He opened the season with three double-doubles in the team's first three games, becoming UCLA's first player to accomplish that feat since Bill Walton opened the Bruins' 1973-74 campaign with nine straight double-doubles.
HOW ABOUT HAMILTON?
Junior guard Isaac Hamilton ranks fourth on the team in scoring (13.2 ppg) and has also registered 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in nine contests. He has shot 44.0 percent from the field and has made 12 of 38 three-point attempts (31.6 pct). He ranks second on the team with 34.2 minutes per game and has started all nine contests. The former standout at St. John Bosco High School (Bellflower, Calif.) has scored at least 10 points in seven of nine games.
ABOUT AARON
A 6-foot-1 freshman guard from Chatsworth, Calif., Aaron Holiday rounds out UCLA's list of five players who are averaging in double figures (11.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 4.0 apg). Holiday leads all UCLA players in 3-point percentage (48.0) and free throw percentage (83.3), having connected on 25 of 30 foul shots. He scored a season-high 18 points against UNLV (Nov. 23) in the Maui Invitational and totaled 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in a 10-point win over No. 1 Kentucky.
BROTHERLY LOVE
Aaron Holiday is the younger brother of former UCLA guard Jrue Holiday. Jrue, in his sixth NBA season, was a freshman for the Bruins in 2008-09. He was selected No. 17 by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft after his freshman season and now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans. Jrue Holiday is married to former UCLA soccer player and USA women's national team player Lauren (Cheney) Holiday.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Under 17th-year head coach Mark Few, Gonzaga entered the week ranked No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs registered early-season wins against Washington and Connecticut in the Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 25-27), falling to Texas A&M by one point (62-61) in a semifinal game at the tournament in the Bahamas. Gonzaga has compiled a 3-1 all-time record against UCLA, including a pair of wins over the Bruins last season (in Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 13, and at NRG Stadium in Houston on March 27 in a Sweet 16 matchup).
ON DECK
After Saturday's game at Gonzaga, the Bruins will be in action at home against Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Louisiana-Lafayette entered the season as the favorite to win the Sunbelt Conference. UCLA's game against the Ragin' Cajuns will begin at 6 p.m. (televised on Pac-12 Networks). Tuesday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Louisiana-Lafayette and UCLA on the basketball court. After that contest, UCLA's two remaining non-conference games include a neutral site meeting with North Carolina (Dec. 19) and a home game against McNeese State (Dec. 22).
YEAR THREE
Steve Alford is currently in his third season as UCLA's head coach and his 25th year as a college basketball head coach. In his third year at UCLA, Alford has led the Bruins to a 56-26 record. After guiding the Bruins to the Pac-12 Tournament title and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2014, Alford helped UCLA engineer a second consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 last March. He has led his teams to at least 22 wins in each of the last eight years, including at least 28 wins in three of the previous four seasons (107-36 record over the previous four years).