SAN FRANCISCO – Seniors Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski served as UCLA's student-athlete representatives at Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day on Tuesday, hosted at Pac-12 headquarters.
The duo of fifth-year seniors was joined by Mick Cronin, who has entered his first year as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. Ali and Olesinski, along with Coach Cronin, participated in various interviews with members of print, broadcast and online media, in addition to taping multiple promotional videos to be used by broadcast networks.
"I appreciate how our players have embraced our program and my staff, and all of the returning players stayed, both our recruits honored their initial commitments to UCLA, so my biggest recruiting job has been our current players," Cronin said. "I'm a big believer in that. I think you have to invest your time and energy in your current guys. For the last five months, [we] have been trying to get to know these guys, get them comfortable with my coaching style and my coaching staff and what we're trying to stand for is a basketball program, and remind myself every day to be patient."
Earlier on Tuesday morning, UCLA was selected to finish eighth in the league's preseason media poll. Oregon was chosen as the favorite, with Colorado picked to finish second in the Pac-12. Both Oregon and Colorado received the same number of first-place votes (nine). Rounding out the top six spots in the Pac-12 preseason poll were Washington, Arizona, USC and Arizona State (complete poll is available here).
Spending the day at @Pac12 headquarters in San Francisco. #GoBruins | #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/rGazMJVwnd
— UCLA Basketball (@UCLAMBB) October 8, 2019
Ali, a senior guard who grew up in The Bronx, N.Y., has played in 88 career games through three seasons. Last year, he averaged 9.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game. Ali will enter his senior season having tallied 663 career points and 203 career rebounds.
Olesinski, a senior forward hailing from Roswell, N.M., has competed in 73 career games in three seasons. He has registered 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in his career. Last season, Olesinski averaged 2.3 points per game in 17 contests, having missed the first 13 games of the year with a right foot injury.
A+ attitude, A+ effort, A+ accountability ??. @CoachMickCronin highlights how @UCLAMBB have bought in this season. ??
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 8, 2019
Keep it locked on #Pac12Hoops Media Day ?? https://t.co/ZhZuI5ezsa pic.twitter.com/KRAXPB9erp
UCLA will begin its regular-season schedule against Long Beach State on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Game time in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom is slated for 8 p.m. (PT). The Bruins will host an exhibition game against Stanislaus State at home on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The exhibition game will begin at 7:30 p.m. (PT).
The Bruins' 31-game regular-season schedule will feature 17 games in Pauley Pavilion, 10 road contests and four neutral-site games (including three consecutive games in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational).
Season tickets for 2019-20 (click here) are still available, starting at just $329.
A limited number of mobile-only Fast Break Passes, which allows access to all 18 home games, can be purchased for only $149. Tickets to non-conference games are also on sale, including opening night against Long Beach State on Nov. 6 and UNLV on Nov. 15. Call (310) 206-5991, email tickets@athletics.ucla.edu, or click on the links above to secure your seats today.
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