University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Hawai'i
UCLA to Host Hawai'i on Wednesday Evening
November 25, 2018 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA (4-2) will open a four-game homestand this Wednesday night, facing Hawai'i (4-3) at 6 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The Bruins dropped a pair of games to Michigan State and North Carolina in Las Vegas last week. The three other teams in the Bruins' upcoming homestand include Loyola Marymount (Dec. 2), Notre Dame (Dec. 8) and Belmont (Dec. 15).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom (13,800)
Tipoff Time: 6:02 p.m. (PT)
Television: Pac-12 Network
TV Talent: J.B. Long (play-by-play), Matt Muehlebach (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 1150
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS/XM Radio Channels: Ch. 105 / Ch. 197
SIRIUS App Channel: Ch. 959
LOOKING AHEAD
Taking a look at UCLA's upcoming opponents in the four-game homestand, the Bruins have only faced Hawai'i once before (UCLA won, 84-64, on Dec. 9, 2000). UCLA last faced LMU at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in a season-opening game. The visiting Lions won that matchup, 69-58, on Nov. 11, 2011. UCLA and Notre Dame are resuming a classic non-conference series that began in Dec. 1952. The Bruins have gone 28-20 in 48 previous meetings against Notre Dame. UCLA has won its only previous meeting against Belmont (at the 2006 NCAA Tournament).
IMPRESSIVE STARTS
The combined record of UCLA's upcoming four opponents is 21-4. Hawai'i has gone 4-3 with losses to Utah, Seton Hall and Fresno State. Loyola Marymount has won each of its seven games, heading into Thursday's contest against Bethesda. Notre Dame has gone 5-1, while Belmont is a perfect 5-0.
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PURCHASE TICKETS
Fans can purchase tickets to UCLA's upcoming home games by clicking here. Fans can also purchase tickets by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling (310) 206-5991.
LAST WEEK IN LAS VEGAS
Sophomore Kris Wilkes averaged 18.5 points in the Bruins' two losses in Las Vegas last week. Wilkes, who leads UCLA in scoring average this season (17.8 ppg), shot 54.5 percent from the field (12-for-22) and was 5-for-9 from three-point range. Jaylen Hands averaged 12.5 points and 6.0 assists per game, while Cody Riley registered 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Las Vegas. Wilkes scored a team-leading 22 points in a loss to North Carolina last Friday afternoon.
FACING TOP-15 COMPETITION
Prior to last week's Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, UCLA had not faced top-15 ranked teams (as ranked in the AP poll) in consecutive games since Nov. 22-23, 2011. Back in 2011, the Bruins faced No. 14 Kansas and No. 15 Michigan in back-to-back days at the Maui Invitational (UCLA lost both contests).
UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Kris Wilkes has scored in double figures in all six games. He enters this Wednesday night's matchup against Hawai'i having scored a team-high 17.8 points per game while logging 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest. Wilkes began the year having made 7 of 26 three-pointers in his first four games (26.9%). Last week, he buried 5 of 9 three-pointers (55.6%) in the team's two-game swing in Las Vegas. As a freshman in 2017-18, Wilkes shot 35.2% from three-point distance.
CRASHING THE BOARDS
Moses Brown has averaged a team-leading 10.3 rebounds in his first six collegiate games (he has also averaged 13.5 points per game). Brown has tallied at least 10 rebounds in five of six games, securing a season-high 17 boards in his first collegiate game (UCLA's 96-71 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Nov. 6). He became UCLA's first freshman to ever record double-doubles in his first three games, averaging 19.7 points and 13.7 rebounds in those first three contests.
THAT'S ELITE
Moses Brown became UCLA's first player to record at least 19 points and 17 rebounds in his collegiate debut since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) registered a then-school-record 56 points and totaled 21 rebounds in UCLA's 105-90 win over USC on Dec. 3, 1966. Abdul-Jabbar made 23 of 32 shots from the field in that game.
FIRST TIME SINCE
Brown's 23-point, 14-rebound and eight-block effort against Saint Francis U (Nov. 16) marked the first time any UCLA player had registered at least 20 points and five blocks in a game since Jan. 22, 2000. Jerome Moiso had 22 points and five blocked shots in UCLA's 83-77 win against Arizona State in Pauley Pavilion.
RECORD TERRITORY
Brown had eight blocks against Saint Francis U (Nov. 16). Since UCLA began officially recording blocks in 1978-79, only three other players have recorded at least eight blocks. Jelani McCoy set the school record with 11 blocks in his seventh game of his freshman season (vs. Maryland, Nov. 9, 1995).
WHO'S BACK FOR UCLA?
The Bruins have returned five of eight rotation players from last season's team, a squad that went 21-12 overall en route to the NCAA Tournament's "First Four" in Dayton, Ohio. Redshirt juniors Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski, along with sophomores Kris Wilkes and Chris Smith, played in all 33 games last season. Sophomore Jaylen Hands played in 31 of 33 games. This year's team brings in eight freshmen – six true freshmen and a pair of redshirt freshmen (Jalen Hill and Cody Riley).
FROM LONG DISTANCE
In each of the past two years, UCLA has shot the No. 1 percentage from three-point territory of any Pac-12 team. With Lonzo Ball and Bryce Alford in 2016-17, the Bruins shot 40.6 percent from three-point range. In 2017-18, after losing Ball and Alford (and Isaac Hamilton and TJ Leaf), the Bruins shot 38.1 percent from three-point distance, a mark that still ranked No. 1 in the conference. As a junior, Aaron Holiday led UCLA last season by shooting 42.9 percent from three-point territory.
THE STREAK CONTINUES
UCLA has made at least one three-pointer in its last 628 games. That streak began after the Bruins went 0-for-14 from three-point range in a 78-63 loss at No. 2 Stanford on Feb. 3, 2000. The Bruins have made at least three 3-pointers in 175 of 180 games under sixth-year head coach Steve Alford.
SMITH OFF THE BENCH
Sophomore Chris Smith has scored in double figures in five of six games this year. He has averaged 11.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Smith had 11 points against Michigan State last Thursday, making 4 of 7 shots. The sophomore guard, originally from Chicago, Ill., has shot 55.6 percent (20-for-36) and 35.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc (5-for-14). He tied his season high with a 15-point performance against Saint Francis U on Friday, Nov. 16.
HE'S OUR PRINCE
Redshirt junior Prince Ali has entered his fourth season at UCLA. The 6-foot-4 guard from The Bronx, N.Y., played as a true freshman in 2015-16 and missed the entire 2016-17 season (redshirted, after having sustained a knee injury in July 2016). Ali is the oldest player on the Bruins' 17-man roster and has played in more games at UCLA than any of his teammates (68 games, 28 starts). Through the team's first six games, Ali has averaged 7.8 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest.
VERSUS HAWAI'I – THE LAST MEETING
UCLA cruised past Hawai'i, 84-64, when the two schools previously faced each other (Dec. 9, 2000). Jason Kapono had 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Ray Young and Earl Watson each tallied 13 points. The Bruins led at halftime, 47-28, in what was the team's sixth game of the season. Predrag Savovic totaled 23 points to lead Hawai'i, connecting on 10 of 18 shots from the field. The win moved UCLA's record to 3-3, before the Bruins went on to secure victories in seven of their next eight contests. The 2000-01 UCLA team finished the year 23-9 with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
THE YEAR WAS 2000
UCLA and Hawai'i have only played each other once before on the basketball court (Dec. 9, 2000). When that game occurred in 2000, none of the players on this year's UCLA roster were any older than four years old (Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski were four years old in December 2000).
HAWAI'I ON THE HORIZON
The Bruins will return to Lahaina, Maui for the 2019 Maui Invitational next season. Joining the Bruins in the 2019 field will be BYU, Dayton, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan State, Virginia Tech and host Chaminade for the 36th annual tournament (Nov. 25-27, 2019) at the historic Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui.
ABOUT THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Eran Ganot, Hawai'i has gone 4-3 through its first seven games this season. Most recently, Hawai'i played three games in the Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.), earning a first-round victory over Utah last Thursday before dropping games to Seton Hall on Friday and Fresno State on Sunday. Four players for Hawai'i have averaged in double figures this season, with senior forward Jack Purchase having tallied 12.4 points per game. Junior forward Zigmars Raino has registered 10.7 points per game and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game.
NEXT ROAD TRIP
The Bruins will play two consecutive games in the midwest – at Cincinnati on Wednesday, Dec. 19 and versus Ohio State (in Chicago) on Saturday, Dec. 22. The Bruins' game at Cincinnati is part of a home-and-home series that began in Pauley Pavilion last season. The game against Ohio State is part of this season's CBS Sports Classic, a one-day doubleheader that features UCLA and Ohio State at 2 p.m. (CT) before Kentucky faces North Carolina at 4:15 p.m. (CT).
MOST THREE-POINT ATTEMPTS
Presbyterian attempted 45 three-pointers on Monday evening in UCLA's 80-65 loss. That marked the highest total ever attempted against UCLA since the NCAA adopted the three-point line prior to the 1986-87 season. The Blue Hose made 13 of 45 attempts against UCLA (shooting 28.9 percent). Previously, Stanford had taken 42 attempts (and made 14) in a 95-92 UCLA victory on Feb. 23, 2002 (at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.).
STANDING TALL
UCLA's 17-person roster includes eight players who measure at least 6-foot-8. Freshman Moses Brown (7-foot-1, 245 pounds) is the Bruins' tallest player since the late Mike Lanier (7-foot-7, 310 pounds) competed as a reserve center for UCLA in 1991-92 and 1992-93. UCLA's Jalen Hill and Alex Olesinski are both 6-foot-10, while Kenneth Nwuba, Cody Riley, Shareef O'Neal and Chris Smith all stand at 6-foot-9. Kris Wilkes rounds out the group at 6-foot-8.
HOME COOKIN'
UCLA went 14-2 at home last season and has won 33 of 36 games in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom since the start of the 2016-17 campaign. During UCLA's 2016-17 season, the Bruins went 16-1 at home. Last year, the team's only home losses came against No. 25 Cincinnati (12/16/17) and to Colorado (1/13/18). Since UCLA renovated Pauley Pavilion prior to the 2012-13 season, the Bruins have tallied an overall home record of 91-15 (logging an 85.8 winning percentage).
