LOS ANGELES – The Bruins (14-11, 5-7) host Utah (19-7, 8-5) in a nationally-televised contest this Thursday night in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7 p.m. UCLA and Utah split a pair of games last season, with each team winning the game on its home court. Neither team has faced each other this season.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion (13,800)
Tipoff Time: 7:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio: AM 570
Radio Talent: Bill Roth (play-by-play), Darrick Martin (analyst)
SIRIUS/XM Channels: Ch. 93/Ch. 197
ABOUT THE BRUINS
- The Bruins have gone 14-11, posting a 5-7 mark in Pac-12 games, and have six 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 lost at No. 17 Arizona last Friday, 81-75, before responding with a 78-65 win at Arizona State on Sunday ... against the Sun Devils on Sunday, Jonah Bolden recorded 16 points and nine rebounds to help UCLA snap a two-game skid ... Isaac Hamilton finisehd with a team-leading 24 points in the team's six-point loss at Arizona on Friday.
- The Bruins are currently amidst a seven-game stretch that features five road games ... following this week's home games against Utah (Feb. 18) and Colorado (Feb. 20), UCLA will return to the road next week to face California (Feb. 25) and Stanford (Feb. 27) ... the games at California and Stanford are UCLA's final two regular-season road contests.
- UCLA is the only Pac-12 team to have at least two scorers in the conference's top 10 (Bryce Alford is fourth with 16.7 ppg, Isaac Hamilton ranks sixth with 16.6 ppg) ... UCLA and Colorado are the only Pac-12 teams with at least two players among the league's top 10 rebounders (Tony Parker is third with 9.1 rpg, Thomas Welsh ranks sixth with 8.4 rpg).
"COMPLETE STUDENT-ATHLETE"
Pac-12 students are known for their athletic success, but they are also impressive, complete people with outside interests, diverse backgrounds, extracurricular activities, interesting families, busy schedules, and full lives. The release for this week's competition is focused on who UCLA students are in the classroom and community.
Thomas Welsh (center): Having emerged as one of the Pac-12's top frontcourt players, sophomore Thomas Welsh has also posted a cumulative grade point average over a 3.0, midway through his sophomore year. While attending nearby Loyola High School (Los Angeles), Welsh had the unique opportunity during his senior year (2013-14) to participate in a three-week, 85-hour community service project in January. In what has become a strong tradition at his high school, Welsh and his senior classmates spent the month of January doing community service from Monday through Friday instead of attending class. For Welsh, that meant tutoring youngsters at the Magnolia Avenue Elementary School (K-5), located west of downtown Los Angeles. While the elementary school was concluding its holiday break, Welsh spent the first full week of January as a volunteer at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Jerrold Smith (guard): Junior Jerrold Smith, a 6-foot guard who attended St. Bernard High School (Playa del Rey, Calif.), took a unique path to securing his spot on the men's basketball team. Smith, who has a cumulative grade point average over a 3.0 as a political science major, didn't join the men's basketball program until midway through his sophomore year. He spent his freshman year at UCLA as one of the men's players on the scout team for the UCLA women's basketball team (NCAA rules permit women's basketball teams to practice against male student-athletes). Smith spent his final three years of high school at St. Bernard playing on the varsity basketball squad before continuing his basketball pursuits as a “practice” player with the women's team. Smith never played for UCLA in a game last season, his sophomore year, but has appeared in six games for the Bruins this season. In practice, he serves as the primary point guard for UCLA's gold team, or secondary unit on the floor.
ABOUT THE UTES
UCLA has gone 8-6 all-time against Utah, posting a 4-2 mark against the Utes since they joined the Pac-12 Conference in the summer of 2011-12. Last week, Utah won a pair of home games against Washington (90-82) and Washington State (88-47), earning their seventh win in their last nine contests. Utah's Jakob Poeltl enters the week having averaged 17.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game, ranking second and fifth, respectively, in the Pac-12 in those two categories. Under the leadership of fifth-year head coach Larry Krystokwiak, Utah has gone 19-7 with an 8-5 mark in Pac-12 play this season.
STREAKIN'
Junior guard Isaac Hamilton has scored in double figures in 21 consecutive games for UCLA, the longest such streak since 2007-08, when freshman Kevin Love scored at least 10 points in all 39 games. Love was drafted fifth overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Prior to Hamilton's streak of 20 straight games, freshman Shabazz Muhammad scored in double figures in each of UCLA's final 19 games during the 2012-13 campaign. This season, Hamilton is tied for fifth among all Pac-12 scorers, having averaged 16.4 points per game (along with Bryce Alford).
FRESHMAN PLAYMAKER
Aaron Holiday, a freshman guard who starred at nearby Campbell Hall High School, has averaged 10.9 points, 3.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game, starting all 25 contests. Holiday's streak of nine consecutive games with at least 10 points was snapped at Arizona last Friday night. Holiday continues to lead the Bruins in three-point field goal percentage (39.4), having made 28 of 71 attempts. In addition, Holiday has made 28 of his last 34 free throw attempts (82.4 percent), shooting 73.2 percent overall from the free throw line (60 for 82).
BRUINS ON THE BOARDS
Tony Parker and Thomas Welsh rank first and second, respectively, among all Pac-12 players in offensive rebounds. Parker, who ranks third in the league in total rebounds per game (9.1 rpg), has registered 3.7 offensive boards per game. Welsh, the league's sixth-leading rebounder (8.4 rpg), has averaged 3.3 offensive rebounds per contest. Parker and Welsh have each recorded nine double-doubles, tied for the fifth-highest total among Pac-12 players. The Bruins' duo has grabbed 42.1 percent of UCLA's total rebounds (429 of 1019).
SCORE AND DISTRIBUTE
Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton are tied for the team lead in points per game (16.4), the fifth-highest scoring average in the Pac-12 (through Feb. 16). Alford also ranks second in the Pac-12 in assists per game (5.5) and assist-turnover ratio (2.6). He has not committed more than two turnovers in any of the team's last 11 games, logging 65 assists and 14 turnovers over that span (4.64 assist-turnover ratio). With a conference-leading 137 assists, he has become UCLA's first player since Earl Watson (1998-2001) to have dished at least 100 assists in each of his first three seasons.