2016 Pac-12 Basketball Media Day2016 Pac-12 Basketball Media Day

Pac-12 men's basketball media day

UCLA Takes Part in Pac-12 Basketball Media Day

Men's Basketball

Head coach Steve Alford and senior Isaac Hamilton represented the Bruins in San Francisco.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Head coach Steve Alford and senior guard Isaac Hamilton represented the UCLA men's basketball team at Pac-12 Media Day on Friday, hosted at the Pac-12 Conference's office and network studios.
 
Coach Alford and Hamilton participated in numerous interviews with members of the print and broadcast media, in addition to taping promotional videos to be used by national television networks and at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas next March.
 
"We're excited to be here," Coach Alford said. "It's great to be at Pac-12 Media Day and to see the enthusiasm around another college basketball season. We've got a great blend of veterans like Isaac, who have been through a couple of Sweet 16s, a lot of fun times, and last year, not so fun. We've got some hungry vets with a collection of freshmen who we'll ask to do a lot for us. We're very excited about that."
 
Hamilton was one of five senior student-athletes representing his team at the conference's annual media day. A graduate of St. John Bosco High School (Bellflower, Calif.), Hamilton averaged a team-leading 16.8 points per game as a junior last season and will enter the 2016-17 campaign as the league's top returning scorer from one year ago.


As one of 10 returning letterwinners on the Bruins' roster this fall, Hamilton returns to a UCLA team that has welcomed three highly-touted freshmen – Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf and Ike Anigbogu. As one of the elder statesmen on this year's team, Hamilton said he has tried to help the newcomers acclimate to the college game.
 
"Coming in from high school to college is a big transition," Hamilton said. "But I've just told these guys to play their game. They way that we're playing this year, it's read and react. These guys have high IQs, so I've told these guys to come and play like you did in high school and talk on defense."
 
UCLA has opened the season ranked No. 20 in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll. The Pac-12's preseason media poll had the Bruins slotted third in the league's projected standings, behind defending Pac-12 champion Oregon and Arizona, respectively.
 
Last season, UCLA went 15-17 with a 6-12 mark in Pac-12 play. Back from last season's starting lineup, in addition to Hamilton, are senior Bryce Alford, junior Thomas Welsh and sophomore Aaron Holiday.
 
The Bruins will host an exhibition game against The Master's University on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
 
UCLA will open its regular season against Pacific on Friday, Nov. 11. Game time that evening in Pauley Pavilion is 6 p.m. Both the season opener against Pacific and the exhibition game on Nov. 1 will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.