LOS ANGELES – The Bruins (13-9, 4-5) play at USC (17-5, 6-3) on Thursday evening in a Pac-12 matchup at the Galen Center. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (PT). Thursday night's game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks, with Ted Robinson and Don MacLean calling the action and Yogi Roth serving as the sideline reporter.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Galen Center (10,258)
Tipoff Time: 7:36 p.m. (PT)
Television: Pac-12 Networks
TV Talent: Ted Robinson, Don MacLean, Yogi Roth (sideline)
Radio: AM 570
Radio Talent: Bill Roth (play-by-play), Darrick Martin (analyst)
ABOUT THE BRUINS
- The Bruins have gone 13-9, including a 4-5 mark in Pac-12 games, and have nine regular-season games remaining ... three of UCLA's wins this season have come against teams ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll – No. 1 Kentucky (Dec. 3), at No. 20 Gonzaga (Dec. 12) and No. 7 Arizona (Jan. 7).
- UCLA has split its last four Pac-12 games, going 1-1 on a road trip to Oregon State and Oregon, before going 1-1 last week with home games versus Washington and Washington State ... Bryce Alford leads all UCLA players in scoring (17.0 ppg) and assists (5.2 apg) ... Isaac Hamilton has scored in double figures in the Bruins' last 18 games.
- Last week, the Bruins lost to Washington, 86-84, on Thursday after having erased an 18-point second-half deficit ... Bryce Alford scored 17 of UCLA's final 19 points, finishing with a team-leading 28 points in that loss ... two days later, the Bruins defeated Washington State in Pauley Pavilion by an 83-50 margin.
- UCLA is the only Pac-12 team to have at least two scorers in the conference's top 10 (Bryce Alford at 17.0 ppg and Isaac Hamilton at 16.6 ppg) ... the Bruins are the only program with at least two players who rank in the Pac-12's top 10 in rebounds (Tony Parker is third with 9.5 rpg and Thomas Welsh ranks sixth with 8.6 rpg).
UCLA TO FACE USC
- UCLA will play at USC this Thursday evening (7:30 pm, PT) ... the Bruins lost to the Trojans in Pauley Pavilion, 89-75, on Wednesday, Jan. 13 ... Tony Parker led the Bruins with 27 points and 12 rebounds in that game ... USC claimed a 48-30 lead at halftime and UCLA closed the gap to nine points (78-69) with 5:04 to play.
- The Bruins have won each of their last four games against USC at the Galen Center, posting a 7-2 all-time record against the Trojans in that arena ... in the all-time series, UCLA has won 10 of the last 12 games ... USC's 89-75 win on Jan. 13 snapped UCLA's six-game winning streak versus the Trojans.
MOST RECENTLY ...
- Isaac Hamilton scored a game-leading 22 points, connecting on 9 of 17 shots from the field, to held UCLA cruise past Washington State, 83-50, on Saturday evening ... five UCLA players scored in double figures, as the Bruins registered their largest margin of victory in a conference game (33 points) since defeating Stanford, 97-63, on Jan. 31, 2009.
- Bryce Alford helped UCLA erase a 19-point deficit by scoring 17 of the team's final 19 points last Thursday in the Bruins' 86-84 loss to Washington ... he finished with 28 points, hitting a 3-pointer with 2:04 remaining to put UCLA ahead, 82-79 ... Andrew Andrews made two free throws for UW with 3.4 seconds left, giving the Huskies a two-point lead.
- Tony Parker became UCLA's 53rd player in program history to have scored at least 1,000 career points, accomplishing that feat midway through the first half of the Bruins' game against Washington on Thursday ... Parker is the fourth player in the last three seasons to hit the 1,000-point plateau (also Jordan Adams, Norman Powell, Bryce Alford).
- Aaron Holiday has scored in double figures in the last eight games ... he scored a season-high 19 points in UCLA's 86-72 loss at Oregon on Jan. 23 ... Holiday continues to lead all UCLA players in 3-point field goal percentage, having made 41.3 percent of his 3-point attempts (26 for 63) ... he ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in assists per game (3.8).
- Bryce Alford has dished a conference-best 115 assists this season ... in each of his three seasons at UCLA, Alford has registered at least 100 assists (102 as a freshman, 176 as a sophomore) ... Alford has become UCLA's first player since Earl Watson (1998-2001) to have totaled 100 or more assists in each of his first three seasons.
BACKCOURT TANDEM
- Junior guards Bryce Alford (17.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 5.2 apg) and Isaac Hamilton (16.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.3 apg) have averaged 33.6 points per game, accounting for 42 percent of the Bruins' points this season.
- Hamilton has scored in double figures in the team's last 18 games ... he has totaled at least 20 points in seven games this season ... Alford has scored at least 10 points in 18 games, registering 20 or more points in seven games.
- Earlier this season, Hamilton had a streak of five straight games with at least eight field goals made, the longest such streak by any UCLA player since 1991, when Tracy Murray did that in six consecutive games.
IN THE FRONTCOURT
- Senior forward/center Tony Parker has averaged 13.4 points and a team-best 9.5 rebounds per game ... Parker has grabbed 642 career rebounds in four seasons at UCLA, the 25th-highest career total in school history.
- Parker and sophomore forward Thomas Welsh have each tallied nine double-doubles this season, tied for the fourth-highest total among Pac-12 players ... Parker currently ranks third in the league in rebounding (9.5 rpg).
- Welsh enters the week having tallied 12.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, starting 21 games ... in conference games only, Welsh ranks third in the Pac-12 with 9.8 rebounds per game (behind Josh Hawkinson and Ryan Anderson).
- Parker and Welsh currently rank first and second, respectively, in the Pac-12 in offensive rebounds per game ... Parker has totaled 3.9 offensive boards per game, while Welsh has averaged 3.4 offensive rebounds per game.
STREAKING
Junior guard Isaac Hamilton has scored in double figures in 18 consecutive games for UCLA, the longest such streak since the 2012-13 season, when Shabazz Muhammad scored in double figures in 19 straight games as a freshman (Muhammad scored in double figures in the team's final 19 games). The last UCLA player to record at least 10 points in 20 or more consecutive games is Kevin Love, who scored in double figures in all 39 games during his freshman season (2007-08) before being selected fifth overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies.
WHO'S ON DECK
Following this Thursday night's game at USC, the Bruins will play at Arizona on Friday, Feb. 12, and at Arizona State on Sunday, Feb. 14. UCLA won each of its home games against Arizona and Arizona State last month. The Bruins defeated then No. 7-ranked Arizona, 87-84, in Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, Jan. 7. In that game, Bryce Alford nailed a 3-pointer to snap an 84-84 tie with 1.8 seconds to play in regulation. Two days later, UCLA overcame a late 58-53 deficit to defeat Arizona State in Pauley Pavilion, 81-74, as Isaac Hamilton scored a team-best 26 points for the Bruins.
AT THE STRIPE
Junior guard Bryce Alford leads all Pac-12 players in free throw percentage. Alford, who entered the season having shot 82.4 percent from the free throw line, has converted a Pac-12-leading 86.3 percent of his free throws this season (101-for-117). In fact, Alford currently ranks fifth on UCLA's all-time free throw percentage list, just behind Jordan Adams (fourth place) and slightly ahead of Reggie Miller (sixth place). Alford's current single-season percentage (86.3) is the highest by any UCLA player since 2009, when Darren Collison concluded his senior year shooting 89.7 from the line.
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 63-32 overall 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).
NEWS AND NOTES
- Tony Parker (13.4 ppg, 9.5 rpg) was named in the preseason to the 2015-16 Karl Malone Award watch list, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ... the Malone Award is annually distributed to the nation's premier power forward ... Parker is one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for this award.
- Bryce Alford ranks fourth among Pac-12 players in scoring average (17.0 ppg) and is first in free throw percentage (86.3 pct) ... he also leads UCLA in assists (5.2 apg), assist-turnover ratio (2.35), 3-pointers made (45), free throws made (101) and minutes per game (36.8) ... he has averaged 17.8 points per game in Pac-12 play.
- Freshman guard Aaron Holiday has started all 22 games and enters this Thursday's game having averaged 11.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game ... Aaron is the younger brother of former UCLA guard Jrue Holiday, who played as a freshman at UCLA in 2008-09 before being selected No. 17 in the 2009 NBA Draft (by Philadelphia).
- During the Bruins' nine conference games, junior guard Isaac Hamilton has averaged a team-best 18.4 points pre game. In that nine-game span, Hamilton has connected on 49.2 percent of his shots (63 for 128) ... Hamilton has also shot 45.2 percent from 3-point range (19 for 42) while totaling 38 assists in those nine games.
- Sophomore forward G.G. Goloman returned from an injury on Jan. 13 and has played in the Bruins' last five games ... Goloman missed UCLA's first 17 contests with a stress fracture below his right knee) ... he played 17 minutes in the team's 82-73 win at Oregon State on Jan. 20, logging three points, three rebounds and one steal.
- Sophomore guard/forward Jonah Bolden made his second start of the season last Saturday, recording three points and seven rebounds to help the Bruins defeat Washington State, 83-50 ... Bolden has scored in double figures twice this season and has recorded at least 10 rebounds in three games.
- UCLA has a pair of birthdays to celebrate this week – Noah Allen on Monday, Feb. 1, and Thomas Welsh on Wednesday, Feb. 3 ... ironically, the UCLA men's basketball team defeated Oregon State, 69-60, in Pauley Pavilion on the day in which Welsh was born (Feb. 3, 1996) ... Bob Myers led the Bruins with 20 points in that Saturday afternon victory.