UCLA
Hofstra
UCLA Set to Face Hofstra on Thursday Evening
November 19, 2019 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The Bruins (4-0) will face Hofstra (2-2) on Thursday evening, concluding a five-game homestand for UCLA. The Bruins have won both prior contests against Hofstra, including a 61-48 victory in a first-round meeting at the 2001 NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. UCLA has opened the season 4-0 for the second consecutive year. Chris Smith has averaged a team-leading 15.5 points per game, while Jalen Hill has registered a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game, through four contests.
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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: J.B. Long (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
XM Channel: Ch. 373
SIRIUSXM Internet Channel: Ch. 373
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LAST TIME OUT
UCLA raced to a 25-6 advantage through the first 13-plus minutes of the game on Monday night, holding on to defeat Southern Utah, 76-61. Chris Smith scored a career-high 20 points in the victory, while Jalen Hill scored 17 points and Prince Ali added 10. UCLA led Southern Utah at halftime, 35-22. The Bruins registered a season-high 10 blocks and tied their season high with 11 steals. Hill and Cody Riley each finished with a team-leading eight rebounds.
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ANOTHER CAREER BEST
Chris Smith has registered a new "career high" in points in each of UCLA's last two games. The 6-foot-9 junior from Chicago had 16 points last Friday night in the team's win against UNLV and followed that performance with a 20-point game against Southern Utah on Monday. Smith has shot 48.8 percent from the field and has made 50 percent of his 3-point attempts, connecting on 6 of 12 shots from long range. Smith has also made all 14 of his free throw attempts.
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EYE OF THE TYGER
Tyger Campbell, a redshirt freshman point guard, has averaged 10.3 points, 5.0 assist and 2.5 rebounds through his first four collegiate contests. The 5-foot-11 guard from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has shot 45 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range (6-for-12). Campbell recorded 15 points and five assists in his first collegiate game (versus Long Beach State on Nov. 6). Most recently, he contributed nine points and five assists in the team's win against Southern Utah (Nov. 18).
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LIMITING THE OPPOSITION
Through games played Monday, the Bruins ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in fewest points allowed per game (60.3 ppg). UCLA ranked second in the league in rebounding margin (+9.5) and blocks per game (6.0). The Bruins limited UNLV to just 54 points last Friday, 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.
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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.
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PLAYING IN LAHAINA
UCLA's program has compiled an 8-7 all-time record at the Maui Invitational. UCLA's five previous appearances have taken place in Nov. 1995 (went 1-2), Nov. 2001 (went 2-1), Nov. 2006 (went 3-0), Nov. 2011 (went 1-2) anad Nov. 2015 (went 1-2). Darren Collison was named the tournament MVP as a sophomore in 2006.
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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.
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- 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.
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- Mick Cronin is in his first season as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. Hired at UCLA in April 2019, he 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.
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UCLA'S LEADING REBOUNDER
Sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill has averaged 13.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks through the Bruins' first four games. Standing at 6-foot-10, Hill finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in the Bruins' victory against Southern Utah on Monday evening. He recorded his fourth career double-double in the team's win against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 10, finishing with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Hill has shot 57.1 percent from the field and 74.1 percent from the free throw line. Through Monday's games, he ranked in the top seven in rebounding in the Pac-12.
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WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
UCLA received a signed National Letter of Intent from high school senior Daishen Nix during the early signing period, as announced by Mick Cronin on Nov. 13. Nix will enroll at UCLA in 2020 and begin his freshman season with the Bruins next fall. A 6-foot-5, 205-pound point guard who resides in Las Vegas, Nix currently attends Trinity International High School.
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Nix has been ranked as the No. 14 player in his high school class, nationally, by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com. He has been ranked No. 21 by ESPN.com. In addition, he has been listed as the No. 1 point guard, nationally, by 247Sports.com.As a junior last season, Nix averaged 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in the Grind Session Circuit, a league comprised of prep schools across the country and includes Trinity International. As a sophomore and junior, he led Trinity International to back-to-back NCSAA Division I Championships.
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NEWS AND NOTES
- Senior Prince Ali, UCLA's top returning scorer from last season's team, enters this Thursday's game having scored 709 career points (7.7 ppg in 92 career contests). He currently leads UCLA's team in most career points scored. Junior Chris Smith ranks second in that category, having scored 399 career points through 70 career games
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.).
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- The largest single-game point total of any returning UCLA player belongs to senior Prince Ali, who registered a career-best 23 points in a home victory last season against Hawai'i (Nov. 28, 2018). The largest single-game rebound total of any returning Bruin belongs to sophomore Jalen Hill, who had 20 boards in a win against Presbyterian last year (Nov. 19, 2018).
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FEWEST POINTS SINCE
UCLA has limited the opposition to an average of 60.3 points per game, through the season's first four contests. That marks the Bruins' best defensive average, through the season's first four games, since the start of the 2008-09 campaign, when UCLA limited the opposition to just 58.3 points per game (through four contests). Through games played Monday, Nov. 18, UCLA ranked No. 17 in the nation in blocks per game (6.0) and No. 16 in free throw attempts (113).
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THE BRUINS WHEN ...
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, UCLA has gone 57-7 when leading at halftime (spanning 106 games). During that span, the Bruins have gone 14-26 when trailing at halftime (2-1 when tied at the break). UCLA's largest halftime deficit overcome in that stretch has been 16 points โ UCLA trailed at home against Oregon, 44-28, on Feb. 23, 2019, and outscored the Ducks in the second half (62-39) to win, 90-83. When the Bruins have built a 10-point lead (or larger) at any point in the game, UCLA has gone 63-7. When trailing by 10 or more points in a game, UCLA has gone 10-27.
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AT THE FREE THROW LINE
The Bruins have shot 69.9 percent from the free throw line through four games this season, making 79 of 113 attempts. UCLA shot 81.3 percent at the free throw stripe in the win against UNLV last Friday night, marking the Bruins' best single-game free throw percentage since Feb. 22, 2018, when the Bruins shot 81.9 percent against Utah (9-for-11). Through games played Monday (Nov. 18), the Bruins led all Pac-12 programs in free throws made and free throws attempted.
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