UCLA
Utah
UCLA Hoops to Face Utah on Sunday Afternoon
January 31, 2020 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The Bruins will host Utah on Sunday afternoon in a Pac-12 contest that will be nationally televised on FS1. Game time is 12 p.m. (PT). Last season, UCLA lost both regular-season games against the Runnin' Utes. UCLA and Utah have recorded a 10-10 all-time record against each other. The Bruins have gone 6-6 versus Utah since the Runnin' Utes joined the Pac-12 Conference in the summer of 2011. UCLA's most recent victory over Utah took place on Jan. 11, 2018, as the Bruins secured an 83-64 win in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Utah has won the last three meetings in the series.
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Venue Capacity: 13,800
Tipoff Time: 12:07 p.m. (PT)
Television: FS1
TV Talent: Alex Faust (play-by-play), Steve Lavin (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS and XM Radio Channels: Ch. 84 / Ch. 84
SIRIUSXM Internet Channel: Ch. 84
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ABOUT UTAH
Under the direction of ninth-year head coach Larry Krystokwiak, Utah will enter this Sunday's contest with a 12-8 record and a 3-5 mark in league games. Timmy Allen has averaged a team-leading 18.7 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game for Utah. Also averaging in double figures for the Runnin' Utes are Rylan Jones (11.1 ppg) and Both Gach (10.1 ppg). Most recently, Utah lost to USC, 56-52, on Thursday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
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THE LAST TIME OUT
Chris Smith scored a career-high 30 points as the Bruins outlasted No. 20 Colorado, 72-68, on Thursday evening. Smith connected on 8 of 16 shots (and 13 of 15 free throw attempts), becoming the sixth UCLA player in the past four seasons to have scored at least 30 points in a game. Last season, Kris Wilkes had 34 points in a home victory over Arizona (Jan. 26, 2019). In 2017-18, Aaron Holiday had four games with at least 30 points. During the 2016-17 season, UCLA received at least 30 points in a game from Bryce Alford (twice that season), Isaac Hamilton (once) and TJ Leaf (once).
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MORE ON UCLA'S WIN
UCLA led Colorado at halftime on Thursday night, 39-27, and never trailed in the second half. Colorado reduced UCLA's cushion to two points (53-51) with 7:22 to play before Jaime Jaquez Jr. made a pair of free throws and hit a jump shot on the next possession to put UCLA ahead by six points. Smith scored 14 of his 30 points before halftime and had all of his team-leading three steals in the first half.
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LAST WEEK'S GAMES
The Bruins split a pair of road games last week, securing a 62-58 win at Oregon State on Thursday (Jan. 23) before losing at No. 12 Oregon, 96-75, on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 26). Freshmen Jake Kyman and Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished the two-game trip having led the team in scoring average (Kyman with 12.5 ppg, Jaquez Jr. with 12.0 ppg). Both Kyman and Jaquez Jr. shot 9-for-17 between the two games (52.9 percent). UCLA registered its first victory at Oregon State since Dec. 30, 2016.
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WELL-DEFENDED
UCLA limited Oregon State (on Jan. 23) to just 15 made shots, the lowest total against any UCLA team in a Pac-12 road game since Feb. 9, 2006 (at Washington State). The Bruins limited Washington State, back in 2006, to 14 made field goals in a 50-30 victory over the Cougars at Beasley Coliseum (Pullman, Wash.).
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NOTES ON THE BRUINS
- UCLA has gone 11-0 this season when limiting the opposition to 73 points or fewer.
- Junior Chris Smith has averaged 16.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in eight Pac-12 games.
- Freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. (8.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg) has led the Bruins in scoring in three games this season.
- Sophomore Jalen Hill has averaged a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game, which ranks ninth in the Pac-12.
- UCLA has had 11 players, including freshmen, establish new career highs in points scored this season.
- The Bruins ranked first in the Pac-12 in rebounding margin (+6.95 rpg), through games played Friday, Jan. 31.
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 19 of 21 games this year (currently averaging 37.4 rebounds per game).
- Through games played Thursday, Jan. 30, UCLA ranked No. 21 in the nation in rebounding margin (+6.95).
- In addition, UCLA ranked No. 29 in the nation (through Thursday, Jan. 30) in offensive rebounds per game (12.7).
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UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Junior guard Chris Smith leads the team in scoring (13.0 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (5.4 rpg), through 21 contests. He has posted career-high percentages this season in overall field goals (47.7%), 3-pointers (32.6%) and free throws (85.4%). In fact, Smith ranked fifth among Pac-12 players in free throw percentage through Friday, Jan. 31. Smith has scored 274 points this season (13.0 ppg), closing in upon his total number of points scored (337) from his first two seasons at UCLA (spanning 66 games). Smith has scored in double figures in 15 of the team's 21 games.
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DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Sophomore Jalen Hill ranks second on the team in scoring (9.7 ppg) and first in rebounding (7.0 rpg). The 6-foot-10 forward/center registered his fourth double-double of the season two weeks ago in a loss to Stanford (14 points, 12 rebounds). Hill has tallied seven double-doubles in his career. He has scored at least 10 points in four of the team's last six games and made four crucial free throws in the final moments of the win at Oregon State on Thursday, Jan. 23. Hill has twice scored at least 20 points in a game this year (including 24 against Hofstra on Thursday, Nov. 21).
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GLANCING AT UCLA'S ROSTER
UCLA's roster features 14 student-athletes, including 12 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 has included 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 returned redshirt freshman Tyger Campbell and 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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REBOUNDING MARGIN
UCLA enters this Sunday's home contest against Utah with a rebounding margin of +6.95, which is the team's best such margin since 2007-08. That year, UCLA went 35-4 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four with a rebounding margin of +8.2. Over the past 30 seasons, UCLA has only had four teams post rebound margins of at least 6.0 or better. UCLA's 1995-96 squad recorded a rebounding margin of +6.0, and the Bruins' 1993-94 team had a rebounding margin of +7.7.
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SINGLETON FROM 3-POINT RANGE
Sophomore David Singleton currently ranks No. 5 on UCLA's career list for highest 3-point percentage (minimum of 100 career 3-point attempts). Singleton has made 43.2% of his career 3-point attempts (shooting 54 for 125) through 52 games. UCLA's all-time leader in that category is former four-year standout Pooh Richardson (52-for-112, 46.4%). Two years ago, Aaron Holiday concluded his three-year career at the No. 5 slot on the career list (180-427, 42.2%).
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FRESHMAN POINT GUARD
Tyger Campbell missed the entire 2018-19 season, as he recovered from a torn ACL in his left knee (sustained on Oct. 7, 2018, in practice). He enters this Sunday afternoon's game having averaged 6.6 points and 4.1 assists per game. Campbell has registered 87 assists and 36 turnovers, compiling the best assist-turnover ratio in the Pac-12 (2.42). Campbell has scored in double figures in six games this season. He recorded a career-high 18 points against Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 28).
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KYMAN'S 20-POINT GAMES
Freshman Jake Kyman has recorded a pair of 20-point games in Pac-12 play. He scored a season-high 21 points in a two-point win at Washington on Jan. 2, connecting on 7 of 12 shots from 3-point range. In that contest, Kyman hit the game-winning 3-point shot with under nine seconds to play in the second half. He also scored 20 points in a loss at Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 26. Kyman made 7 of 11 shots in that game, including 4 of 8 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.
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GENERATING OFFENSE
UCLA has seven of players who have led the team in scoring in at least one game. Junior Chris Smith has led the Bruins in nine of 21 games this season (including in five of the last seven games). Freshman Jake Kyman has led UCLA in scoring in two Pac-12 games, and freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been the team's top scorer in the other Pac-12 game. UCLA shot 50.0 percent (26-for-52) in the loss at No. 12 Oregon last Sunday afternoon (Jan. 26), marking the team's highest overall shooting percentage since a victory over San Jose State on Sunday, Dec. 1.
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FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS
Redshirt seniors Prince Ali (8.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg) and Alex Olesinski (1.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg) are the first players at UCLA to have spent more than four years on the team since Michael Roll was a fifth-year senior in 2009-10. Roll finished his UCLA career as the program's all-time leader in games played (147 games, 2005-06 through 2009-10). Recent fifth-year seniors who didn't spend all five seasons in Westwood have included Travis Wear (senior in 2013-14), David Wear (senior in 2013-14) and Larry Drew II (senior in 2012-13) Both Ali and Olesinski have fulfilled their undergraduate degree requirements.
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NEWS AND NOTES
- Looking at UCLA's 14-man roster, nine 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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- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 19 of 21 games. The Bruins were out-rebounded earlier this month by USC (35-31) and California (35-33). USC became the first team this season (in UCLA's 16th game of the year) to have out-rebounded the Bruins. Sophomore Jalen Hill has been the Bruins' leading rebounder (7.0 rpg, 148 total rebounds). He ranks ninth among all Pac-12 players in rebounding and has tallied a team-leading 347 career rebounds.
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- The Bruins have two players, entering the weekend, who have scored at least 500 career points (Prince Ali and Chris Smith). Ali has scored a team-best 829 career points in 108 games (averaging 7.7 points per game). Smith has registered 611 career points through 87 games (averaging 7.0 points per contest).
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- Freshman Jake Kyman set the school's single-game record for most 3-pointers by a freshman (7), as he made 7 of 12 attempts from long range in the team's 66-64 win at Washington on Thursday, Jan. 2. Kyman is UCLA's only freshman and just the ninth player in school history to have made seven or more 3-point field goals in one game.
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- UCLA's 22 offensive rebounds in the win at Washington (Jan. 2) marked the team's highest single-game offensive rebound total since Jan. 1, 2016. The Bruins had 23 offensive boards in a double overtime loss (96-93) at Washington on Jan. 1, 2016, to open Pac-12 action. In that game back in 2016, the Bruins totaled 59 rebounds against the Huskies.
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- The Bruins' 50 points scored in a 50-40 win over California on Sunday, Jan. 19, marked UCLA's lowest point total in a victory since winning at Washington State (50-30) on Feb. 9, 2006. UCLA had not limited the opposition to 40 points (or fewer) since a 55-40 win over USC in the Pac-12 Tournament at Staples Center on March 7, 2012.
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- The largest single-game point total of any current UCLA player belongs to junior Chris Smith, who tallied a career-best 30 points in the team's win over No. 20 Colorado (Jan. 30, 2020). The largest single-game rebound total of any current Bruin belongs to sophomore Jalen Hill, who tallied 20 boards in a win against Presbyterian last season (Nov. 19, 2018).
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- Sophomore David Singleton finished his freshman campaign (2018-19) ranking No. 6 on the school's single-season list for highest 3-point percentage (46.7%). He made 35 of 75 shots from 3-point range, logging the second-highest percentage of any player in the Pac-12 (behind California's Matt Bradley, who shot 47.2%, making 50 of 106 attempts).
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NEXT NOVEMBER
UCLA will join Georgetown, Virginia and Kansas in the 2020 Paycom Wooden Legacy during the week of Thanksgiving (Anaheim Convention Center). This will mark UCLA's first appearance in the Wooden Legacy since winning the event in 2016. UCLA played in the tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center (2009) when the event was named the 76 Classic. In 2016, the Bruins defeated Portland and Nebraska on consecutive days at Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 24-25, 2016) before recording a 74-67 win over Texas A&M in the championship contest at the Honda center (Nov. 27, 2016).
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THE BRUINS WHEN ...
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, UCLA has gone 64-9 when leading at halftime (spanning 123 games). During that span, the Bruins have gone 14-33 when trailing at halftime (2-2 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 70-9. When trailing by 10 or more points in a game, UCLA has gone 10-36.
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STREAKING
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer played in its last 678 games. That 3-point streak began after the Bruins went 0-for-14 from 3-point territory in a 78-63 loss at No. 2-ranked Stanford on Feb. 3, 2000 (Maples Pavilion). UCLA has made at least three 3-pointers in 222 of 228 games since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Bruins made a school single-game-record 19 three-pointers (on 31 attempts) at Colorado on Jan. 12, 2017. UCLA won that road game, 104-89.
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