UCLA
Utah
UCLA Set to Play at Utah on Thursday Night
February 19, 2018 | Men's Basketball
UP NEXT FOR THE BRUINS
UCLA has three games remaining in the regular season, with all three contests to take place on the road (at Utah, Colorado and USC). The Bruins head to play at Utah this Thursday (6 pm, PT) in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN. UCLA downed Utah in Pauley Pavilion, 83-64, on Jan. 11. Last season, UCLA won its lone meeting against Utah in Salt Lake City by an 83-82 margin. The Bruins have compiled a 10-7 all-time record against Utah and have won five of eight meetings against the Utes since they joined the Pac-12 Conference prior to the 2011-12 season.
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000)
Tipoff Time: 6:05 pm PT (7:05 pm MT)
Television: ESPN
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG): AM 1150
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
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BACK IN JANUARY
Aaron Holiday scored 20 points, Kris Wilkes totaled 19 points and Prince Ali added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Bruins shot 52 percent (12-of-23) from 3-point range in an 83-64 win over Utah on Jan. 11. UCLA led at halftime, 41-33, and never saw its cushion fall to any fewer than eight points in the second half.
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LAST WEEK
Junior guard Aaron Holiday earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. Holiday averaged 23.0 points and 8.0 assists in the Bruins' two victories last week. Holiday helped UCLA to a 75-68 win over Oregon State on Thursday night, logging his third career double-double (17 pts, 10 rbs). The former standout at Campbell Hall High School registered a team-leading 29 points and had six assists in UCLA's 86-78 overtime win against Oregon on Saturday evening. Senior center Thomas Welsh averaged 14.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in the Bruins' two victories.
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HOLIDAY'S HEROICS
Aaron Holiday ranked third among all Pac-12 players in scoring (19.4 ppg), through Sunday, Feb. 18. Holiday has totaled at least 20 points in 14 games. He entered his junior season having scored at least 20 points in just three previous games (all as a sophomore in 2016-17). Among the league's leaders in multiple categories, Holiday currently ranks second in assists per game (5.7), sixth in three-point percentage (42.6%) and ninth in free throw percentage (83.5%).
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ELITE COMPANY
Aaron Holiday is on track to become the seventh player in the Pac-12 (or Pac-10) since the 1983-84 season to have logged at least 19.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. Prior Pac-12 players to accomplish that feat have included Markelle Fultz (Washington, 2016-17), Luke Ridnour (Oregon, 2002-03), Jason Terry (Arizona, 1998-99), Damon Stoudamire (Arizona, 1994-95) and Gary Payton (Oregon State, in both 1989-90 and 1988-89). Ridnour, Terry and Payton (1989-90) earned Pac-10 Player of the Year acclaim, while Stoudamire was a co-Player of the Year selection along with UCLA's Ed O'Bannon.
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MOST SINCE โฆ
No UCLA player has averaged at least 19 points per game since 1997-98, when senior J.R. Henderson finished the year having averaged 19.0 ppg through 33 contests. No UCLA guard has registered 19 or more points per game in one season since Reggie Miller averaged 22.3 points per game as a senior in 1986-87. Bill Walton (1973-74) is the only previous UCLA player to have ever logged at least 19.0 points and 5.0 assists per game in one season.
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30-POINT CLUB
Holiday has become just the third UCLA player in the last 20 seasons (1998-99 through 2017-18) to have scored at least 30 points in two or more games in a single season. Jordan Adams had a pair of 30+ point games as a sophomore in 2013-14. Bryce Alford had two games with at least 30 points as a senior in 2016-17.
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SENIOR CENTER
Thomas Welsh, a 7-foot center from Redondo Beach, Calif., has totaled 16 double-doubles in 27 games. That marks the Bruins' highest single-season double-doubles total since Kevin Love registered 23 as a freshman in 2007-08. Welsh, who had a career-high 17 rebounds in last Thursday's win against Oregon State, has become UCLA's only player to ever record at least 900 career rebounds and make more than 30 career three-pointers. Welsh has made 33 of 86 three-point attempts after having only attempted one (which he made) in his previous three collegiate seasons (took place on March 4, 2017).
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Welsh (13.1 ppg, 10.7 rpg), who recorded 10 double-doubles as a sophomore in 2015-16, has become the eighth UCLA player in the past 20 years to have logged at least 10 double-doubles in one season. Since the start of the Bruins' 1998-99 campaign, Kevin Love has registered more double-doubles in a single season than any other UCLA player (23 double-doubles in 2007-08). The school's single-season double-doubles record is 28 by Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) during the Bruins' 1967-68 NCAA title-winning season.
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MORE ABOUT THE BRUINS
Aaron Holiday ranks first among all Pac-12 players (in conference games only) in scoring, having averaged 20.9 points in the Bruins' 15 league games (through games played Feb. 19). In addition, Holiday has made 42 of 82 three-point attempts in Pac-12 action, converting at a 51.2% clip (the No. 1 three-point percentage among all Pac-12 players).
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The Bruins have shot 50.0% or better in nine games (going 8-1 in those contests). UCLA shot a season-best 58.2% in the team's 107-84 win at California (Jan. 6). Two weeks ago, UCLA shot 51.6% (32-for-62) in a road win at No. 13 Arizona (Feb. 8). UCLA leads all Pac-12 programs (league games only) in three-point field goal percentage (39.3 percent).
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UCLA has shot 72.2 percent from the free throw line, through 27 games. The Bruins made just 67.2 percent (180/268) of their free throws through their first 11 games, but have since shot 75.8 percent (285/376) through their last 16 games. The Bruins made a season-best 92.0 percent (23-for-25) of their free throws in a home win over Stanford (Jan. 27).
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Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh both reached the heralded 1,000-career-point milestone in a Pac-12 victory against Washington State earlier this season (Dec. 29, 2017). In a 33-point, 11-rebound performance, Holiday crossed the 1,000 point marker in the first half of the game. Welsh reached the milestone in the second half of UCLA's victory that night.
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Aaron Holiday ranks ninth in the Pac-12 in total free throw percentage (83.5%) and has made more free throws (137) than any other Pac-12 player. Holiday (137/164) is just 29 free throws shy of cracking UCLA's single-season list for most free throws made. Jordan Adams made 158 free throws and Kyle Anderson made 137 free throws in 2013-14.
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