UCLA
UC Irvine
No. 23 UCLA to Take on UC Irvine This Sunday
November 23, 2017 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The Bruins are back in action against UC Irvine in Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, Nov. 26. UCLA has compiled an 8-2 all-time record against the Anteaters, most recently having defeated UC Irvine in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 13, 2012 (the Bruins won, 80-79, in overtime). Other recent meetings against UC Irvine took place in Dec. 2010 (UCLA 74, UC Irvine 73) and Dec. 2011 (UCLA 89, UC Irvine 60). Earlier this week, UC Irvine (3-4) dropped a 90-82 decision to Rider University on Thursday before bouncing back Friday with a 77-71 win over Northern Arizona (both games were played in Las Vegas).ย
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UCLA's game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network. The radio broadcast with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray will be available in the Los Angeles area on AM 570 (KLAC).
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion (13,800)
Tipoff Time: 3:06 p.m. PT
Television: Pac-12 Network
TV Talent: Jim Watson (play-by-play), Casey Jacobsen (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS/XM Channels: Ch. 119/Ch. 197
SIRIUS App. Channel: Ch. 959
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PURCHASE TICKETS
The "Bruin Fast Pass" include the home matchup against Cincinnati (Dec. 16) and all nine Pac-12 home games. To purchase a Bruin Fast Pass, click here to reserve your spot in Pauley Pavilion for only $99. Fans can also secure seats for any of the remaining UCLA home games by calling (310) 206-5991 or visitingย uclabruins.com/tickets. Click hereย to download the men's basketball schedule directly to your calendar.
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DOWNLOAD THE UCLA APP
Be sure to download the UCLA Bruins Mobile App to your device, free of charge (download here). The official app of UCLA Athletics allows fans to receive in-game stats and live updates during events. Fans can also sign up to receive push notifications about gameday promotions, game times, live scoring and more. Fans can shop for UCLA gear with one click in addition to getting breaking news from UCLA Athletics. When searching iTunes or Google Play, use the term "UCLA Bruins" for more direct access.ย
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THROUGH FIVE GAMES
UCLA has gone 4-1 through five games, winning two games in Pauley Pavilion, one game in Shanghai (China) and one game in Kansas City, Mo. Earlier this week, the Bruins dropped an 100-89 decision to Creighton in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Classic (Nov. 20). The following evening, UCLA outlasted Wisconsin, 72-70, in the tournament's third-place contest. Aaron Holiday scored a team-leading 18 points against Wisconsin (including the game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds left).
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UCLA'S PIT BULL
Described by head coach Steve Alford as a "pit bull," Aaron Holiday scored UCLA's final 10 points in the win over Wisconsin on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. Holiday's three-pointer with 45 seconds left put UCLA ahead, 70-67. With the game tied, 70-70, Holiday darted to the hoop in the final seconds and scored the game-winning layup.
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WHO TO WATCH
UCLA has four players current averaging double-figure scoring โ Aaron Holiday (17.2 ppg), Kris Wilkes (14.2), Thomas Welsh (13.2) and Jaylen Hands (12.0). In addition, Prince Ali has registered 9.2 points per game, shooting nearly 52 percent as the team's go-to scorer off the bench. Welsh ranked second in the Pac-12 in rebounding (11.0 rpg) through games played Wednesday, Nov. 22. Welsh, a 7-foot senior center from Redondo Beach, Calif., has totaled three double-doubles.
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WHAT A HOLIDAY
Junior guard Aaron Holiday has played in all 73 games for the Bruins since he arrived as a freshman during the 2015-16 school year. Holiday entered this season having scored a previous career-best 20 points in three games. Through just five games this season, he has twice surpassed that 20-point mark โ Holiday had 24 points and six rebounds against Central Arkansas (Nov. 15) before totaling 25 points and seven assists last Monday night against Creighton (Nov. 20).
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LOOKING AHEAD
Following Sunday's contest against UC Irvine, the Bruins will play three more games in Pauley Pavilion before hitting the road for a piviotal non-conference game at Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 9. Including last season, the Bruins have won 18 of their last 19 games in Pauley Pavilion. UCLA is scheduled to host CSU Bakersfield next Wednesday (Nov. 29), before taking on Detroit Mercy (Dec. 3) and Montana (Dec. 6). UCLA will play six of its eight December games in Pauley Pavilion.
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NEARING 1,000
Senior center Thomas Welsh and junior guard Aaron Holiday are both nearing the 1,000-career-point plateau. Welsh will enter this Sunday's game having scored 897 career points, needing just 103 more to reach 1,000. Holiday has totaled 858 points, now into his third season, and stands 142 points shy of tying the 1,000-point mark. UCLA's tradition-rich men's basketball program has 54 former players who have scored at least 1,000 career points wearing the Bruins' uniform.
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NATIONAL HONORS
Junior guard Aaron Holiday has been named as one of 50 players to the preseason watch lists for the 2018 John Wooden Award and the Citizen Naismith Trophy. In addition, Holiday is among 40 student-athletes on the preseason watch list for the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award. Hailing from nearby Chatsworth, Calif., and Campbell Hall High School, Holiday averaged 12.3 points and 4.4 assists per game coming off the bench for the Bruins last season.
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CENTURY MARK
Steve Alford has become the sixth head coach in Westwood to have logged at least 100 career wins as UCLA's head coach. Alford secured win No. 100 last Tuesday against Wisconsin. Alford, who led UCLA to 31 victories last season, joins a list of 100-plus-win UCLA head coaches that also features Caddy Works (1921-1939), John Wooden (1948-1975), Jim Harrick (1988-1996), Steve Lavin (1996-2003) and Ben Howland (2003-2013). Alford has compiled a 100-46 overall record in just over four seasons as the program's head coach (68.5 winning percentage in games with UCLA).
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FREQUENT FLYERS
In just three weeks, the Bruins' basketball team has traveled approximately 16,200 miles in roundtrips between L.A. to Shanghai and L.A. to Kansas City, Mo. During the Bruins' first 18 days of the season, UCLA spent 12 of those days either away from home or on the road traveling (to either Shanghai, Kansas City, or back to Los Angeles). Through a travel schedule that has exceeded 31 combined hours in the air, the Bruins have posted a 4-1 overall record.
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MOVIN' ON UP
Thomas Welsh now ranks third on the school's all-time blocked shots list (122), having recently surpassed Charles O'Bannon (118) for the No. 3 slot. The top two spots on UCLA's career blocks list are occupied by Jelani McCoy (188) and Dan Gadzuric (184). McCoy played at UCLA from 1995-98, while Gadzuric starred for the Bruins from 1999-2002. Welsh currently ranks No. 7 on the school's all-time field goal percentage list (55.7 percent overall). Please note, UCLA's official "blocked shot" statistic has only been tracked on a consistent basis since the 1978-79 season.
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ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Thomas Welsh earned second-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors the past two seasons. The 7-foot center from Redondo Beach, Calif., is the third men's basketball player in school history to have earned Pac-12 All-Academic Team honors in multiple seasons, joining George Zidek (1992-95) and Alfred Aboya (2006-09) in that category. Freshmen are not eligible for the conference's all-academic team. Welsh, who arrived at UCLA in the summer of 2014 after graduating from Loyola High School (Los Angeles), has posted above a 3.0 cumulative grade point average as an economics major.
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BRUIN SENIORITY
The Bruins' 16-man roster features four senior student-athletes โ Thomas Welsh (center, 7-foot), G.G. Goloman (forward, 6-foot-11), Ikenna Okwarabizie (center, 6-foot-9) and Alec Wulff (guard, 6-foot-3). Welsh has played in 104 games (66 starts) for the Bruins, having missed just five games the past three seasons due to illness/injury. Welsh has averaged 8.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in his career, shooting 55.7 percent from the field. Goloman has played in 90 games in just over three seasons in Westwood, averaging 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
