UCLA
Southern Utah
UCLA Hoops to Face Southern Utah on Monday
November 17, 2019 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The Bruins (3-0) will take on Southern Utah (2-1) as part of the "Maui on the Mainland," a non-conference matchup built into the upcoming Maui Jim Maui Invitational (Nov. 25-27). UCLA has never before faced Southern Utah on the hardwood. The Bruins have won each of their first three games this season, recording home victories against Long Beach State (69-65), UC Santa Barbara (77-61) and UNLV (71-54). Chris Smith (14.0 ppg) and Prince Ali (12.0 ppg) have scored in double figures in each of the Bruins' three regular-season games.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Venue Capacity: 13,800
Tipoff Time: 8:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: Pac-12 Network
TV Talent: Anne Marie Anderson (play-by-play), Casey Jacobsen (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 1150
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
XM Channel: Ch. 373
SIRIUSXM Internet Channel: Ch. 373
PROMOTIONS & MENUS ON MONDAY
Tickets to Monday evening's game against Southern Utah are available for purchase online, starting at just $15. For day-of-game updates about concessions, parking and other promotional tie-ins, be sure to follow the @UCLAGameday Twitter account. Food trucks slated to be lined up on the south side of the arena include The Berlin Truck (menu), Tropic Truck (menu) and Richeeze (menu). Monday evening's "value item" of the game is three-dollar candy. For students in "The Den," there will be a mashed potato bar for the first 400 student fans.
LIMITING THE OPPOSITION
Through games played Saturday, Nov. 16, UCLA ranked third among Pac-12 programs in fewest points allowed per game (60.0 ppg) and was second in best rebounding margin (+10.3 rpg). In fact, the Bruins limited UNLV to just 54 points on Friday night, marking the fewest points that UCLA has allowed in a game since Dec. 31, 2017, when the Bruins defeated Washington, 74-53, in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The 54-point total by UNLV is the lowest output by a team against UCLA in a non-conference game since Dec. 22, 2015, when the Bruins took down McNeese State, 67-53.
EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
UCLA has opened the season with a 3-0 mark for the fourth consecutive year. Most recently, Chris Smith scored a career-best 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Bruins' 71-54 victory against UNLV last Friday. UCLA led UNLV by as many as 22 points late in the first half, taking a 36-14 lead with just over four minutes to play before halftime. Friday's win marked UCLA's first game this season in which the Bruins led their opponent at the intermission. UCLA trailed Long Beach State in the season opener, 33-27, and were down by two points, 34-32, against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, Nov. 10.
CAREER BESTS
Junior Chris Smith, with 16 points on Friday, has not been the only UCLA player to record a career high in points this season. Sophomore Jalen Hill scored a career-high 22 points in the team's 77-61 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, Nov. 10, after having registered a season-high 12 points in three contests last year. Hill made 9 of 13 shots in the win over the Gauchos, logging his fourth career double-double and his sixth career contest with at least 10 rebounds. Sophomore Cody Riley notched a career-high 14 points in the team's season-opening win against Long Beach State on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
EYE OF THE TYGER
Redshirt freshman guard Tyger Campbell has averaged 10.7 points, 5.0 assists and 2.7 rebounds in UCLA's three games. Campbell, a 5-foot-11 guard from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has shot 54.5 percent from 3-point range (6-for-11), recording 15 assists and seven turnovers. He played a team-high 37 minutes in the season opener against Long Beach State, finishing that game with 15 points, five assists and five rebounds. He made 3 of 5 shots from 3-point territory in the season-opening win. Campbell missed the entire 2018-19 season after having torn the ACL in his left knee last October.
ADDITIONAL NOTES ABOUT UCLA
- UCLA's roster features 15 student-athletes, including 13 players who were on the team last season. The Bruins have returned eight of 11 players who competed in the bulk of the team's games last season. That returning nucleus includes fifth-year seniors Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski, junior Chris Smith and sophomores Jalen Hill, Cody Riley, Jules Bernard, Kenneth Nwuba and David Singleton. The Bruins return redshirt freshmen Tyger Campbell and Shareef O'Neal and have added incoming freshmen Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Camarillo, Calif.) and Jake Kyman (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), a pair of 6-foot-6 guards.
- The roster includes 10 freshmen and sophomores but does feature seven student-athletes who have played in at least 30 college games. Prince Ali, a 6-foot-4 senior, has played in 91 career games, making 50 starts. Ali and senior Alex Olesinski enrolled at UCLA in the summer of 2015 and have entered the season as UCLA's most experienced players (Olesinski has played in 76 games). Chris Smith, a 6-foot-9 junior, has played in all 69 games for the Bruins since the start of the team's 2017-18 campaign. Smith has made 15 career starts, midway into this third season at UCLA.
- Mick Cronin enters his first season as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. Hired as the Bruins' head coach in April 2019, Cronin spent the previous 13 seasons as head coach at the University of Cincinnati, his alma mater. He guided Cincinnati to the NCAA Tournament the past nine seasons and helped the Bearcats capture the American Athletic Conference's regular-season title in 2014 and 2018. Cincinnati also won the AAC Tournament championship in 2018 and 2019. Cronin has entered his 17th season as a college basketball head coach.
HEADED BACK TO MAUI
The Bruins will be playing in Lahaina, Hawai'i, at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational next week. Most recently, UCLA played in the eight-team tournament in Nov. 2015, defeating UNLV in a first-round matchup before dropping consecutive games to Kansas and Wake Forest. UCLA won the tournament in 2006, with three straight wins against Chaminade, Kentucky and Georgia Tech. This season, the Bruins will open against BYU on Monday, Nov. 25. UCLA's second game will take place against either Kansas or Chaminade on Nov. 26. The Bruins will conclude the tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
NEWS AND NOTES
- Senior Prince Ali, UCLA's top returning scorer from last season's team, enters this Monday evening's game having scored 699 career points (7.7 ppg in 91 career contests). He currently leads UCLA's team in most career points scored. Junior Chris Smith ranks second in that category, having scored 379 career points through 69 career games.
- The Bruins are returning 47.6% of their scoring production from last season. UCLA lost its top three scorers from last season's roster (Kris Wilkes 17.4 ppg, Jaylen Hands 14.2 ppg, Moses Brown 9.7 ppg), as all three student-athletes chose to pursue a professional career. UCLA has returned 56.6% of its rebounding production from one year ago.
- Former UCLA center Moses Brown, who was a freshman with the team last season, has become the 95th former UCLA player to have played in the NBA. Brown, a 7-foot-1 center from New York City, made his NBA debut with the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, Nov. 12. He tallied three rebounds in four minutes of action in a game versus Sacramento.
- Jalen Hill, a redshirt sophomore from Corona, Calif., scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Bruins' 77-61 win against UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 10). He became the first UCLA player with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game since Jaylen Hands had 22 points and 11 rebounds in UCLA's second-to-final game of last season (vs. Stanford, March 13).
- Jules Bernard, a sophomore from Los Angeles, scored 20 points off the bench in UCLA's 77-61 victory against UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 10). He tied his career high (points) in that game, having also logged 20 points off the bench in the Bruins' 90-83 victory at home against Oregon last season (Feb. 23), in what was UCLA's second-to-last home contest.
- UCLA's 11 total steals in the season opener (Nov. 6) were just one shy of a season-best 12 steals in last year's victory over Long Beach State (UCLA won, 91-80, in the second game last season). Prince Ali, Alex Olesinski, Chris Smith and David Singleton each came up with a pair of steals in the season opener against Long Beach State (Nov. 6).
- Looking at UCLA's 15-man roster, 10 of the team's student-athletes either grew up in the Southern California region or attended high school in the Los Angeles area. Cody Riley (listed as Kansas City, Kan.), moved to the Los Angeles area when he was in middle school and attended Sierra Canyon High School (Chatsworth, Calif.).
FEWEST POINTS SINCE
UCLA has surrendered 180 total points through the team's first three games (60.0 ppg). That marks the Bruins' fewest points allowed – through the season's first three games – since the start of the 2013-14 season, when UCLA allowed 59.0 points per game in wins against Drexel, Oakland and Sacramento State. Through games played Saturday, Nov. 16, the Bruins ranked No. 32 in the nation in fewest fouls committed per game and No. 57 in fewest points allowed per game.
MAKING IMPROVEMENT
Junior Chris Smith has made 5 of 10 attempts from 3-point range (50.0 percent) in UCLA's first three games. The 6-foot-9 guard from Chicago entered the season having made 24.7 percent of his 3-point shots during the previous two seasons (21 for 85). In addition, Smith has made all nine free throw attempts this season. Over the previous two years, Smith had shot 65.5 percent from the free throw stripe (72 for 110). He enters this Monday night's game against Southern Utah having averaged a team-leading 14.0 points per game. In addition, he has registered 7.0 rebounds per game.
POINT GUARD POSITION
With Tyger Campbell returning from an ACL tear (left knee), he could become UCLA's fifth primary point guard in as many seasons. Over the past four seasons, not one player has assumed the primary point guard responsibility for a second straight season. In 2015-16, (junior) Bryce Alford was the team's starting point guard. In 2016-17, (freshman) Lonzo Ball recorded a UCLA single-season record 274 assists. In 2017-18, (junior) Aaron Holiday led the Pac-12 in scoring (20.3 ppg) as the team's primary point guard. Last season, (sophomore) Jaylen Hands served as the Bruins' starting point guard.
FINISHING STRONG
Sophomore Jules Bernard closed his freshman season by scoring in double figures in eight of the final 11 games. He had scored at least 10 points in just two of the Bruins' first 22 contests. Bernard finished his freshman year having averaged 7.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game (33 games). In the team's final 11 games, Bernard averaged 11.5 points per game and shot 56.0 percent from the field (42-for-75). In addition, he shot 41.7 percent from 3-point territory in the team's final 11 games. Bernard scored a season-high 20 points in the Bruins' overtime victory against Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 23.
