UCLA
Washington
Bruins to Host Washington on Saturday Night
February 14, 2020 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The Bruins will face Washington on Saturday night in a nationally-televised matchup on ESPN2. UCLA has won six of its past eight games, after having opened Pac-12 play with a 1-3 record. The Bruins haven't faced Washington at home since securing a 74-53 victory on Dec. 31, 2017. UCLA has won four of the past five games in the series against the Huskies and has registered an all-time record of 100-43 against Washington. The Bruins are seeking their first regular-season sweep (at least two games) against Washington since the 2016-17 season (UCLA won each of those games by at least 32 points).
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Venue Capacity: 13,800
Tipoff Time: 7:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
XM Radio Channels: Ch. 373
SIRIUSXM Internet Channel: Ch. 373
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ABOUT WASHINGTON
Under the direction of third-year head coach Mike Hopkins, the Huskies have gone 12-13 this season with a 2-10 mark in Pac-12 play. Washington has four players who are averaging in double-figure scoring, led by freshman Isaiah Stewart (17.2 ppg and 8.8 rpg). The Huskies' second and third-leading scorers are Jaden McDaniels (12.7 ppg) and Nahziah Carter (12.6 ppg). Most recently, Washington lost at USC, 62-56, on Thursday night.
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UCLA'S MEETING IN SEATTLE
UCLA opened its Pac-12 schedule with a 66-64 win at Washington on Thursday, Jan. 2. Freshman Jake Kyman scored a season-high 21 points in that game, connecting on 7 of 12 shots from 3-point territory. Kyman nailed the game-winning 3-point shot with less than nine seconds to play in regulation, helping the Bruins secure a 66-64 lead. The win at Washington helped UCLA to end a three-game losing streak.
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GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
The first 800 UCLA students will receive free tank tops and all kids under high school age are invited to shoot a free throw on the court after the game. Fans can enjoy $3 peanuts and cracker jack, as well as culinary options from three food trucks โ Richeeze, Go Fusion N' Grill, and Chicken & Rice, all located along the arena's south concourse. Tickets for Saturday's game start at less than $30 (by clickingย here), or fans can visit the box office on Saturday. Fans will be able to use their Washington game ticket for free admission into the UCLA men's volleyball match against USC on Sunday (5 p.m., Pauley).
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ZERO WASTE COMPETITION
This Saturday's game against Washington will be the Bruins' annual Zero Waste Game, part of theย Pac-12's Zero Waste Competition, in which conference universities compete with each other in pursuit of a zero waste home game. UCLA has been working with its partners at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom, campus student groups, and student-athletes to engage and encourage everyone at Saturday's game to do their part by reducing, reusing, recycling and composting. There will be several student organizations in attendance promoting sustainability efforts and helping with the annual waste audit which will take place after the game, outside on the east plaza.ย Fans in attendance are encouraged to help show the Bruins' active commitment to zero waste and sustainability.
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THURSDAY NIGHT'S GAME
For the second time this season, UCLA and Washington State competed into overtime on Thursday night. This time, the Bruins prevailed with an 86-83 victory. Cody Riley scored 11 of his 19 points in overtime to help the Bruins outlast the visiting Cougars. Chris Smith logged his third career double-double (all this season) with 23 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. The junior from Chicago, Ill., made 8 of 20 shots and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
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LAST WEEK'S GAMES
The Bruins split a pair of road games last week, falling at Arizona State, 84-66, on Feb. 6 before winning at No. 23 Arizona, 65-52, on Feb. 8. Chris Smith scored 15 points and Tyger Campbell had 12 points in win at Arizona. That marked UCLA's third consecutive victory over the Wildcats at the McKale Center. The two schools didn't play each other at Arizona last season, and UCLA won road games in Feb. 2017 and Feb. 2018.
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DOWN THE ROAD
After this Saturday's game against Washington, the Bruins will have just five remaining regular-season contests โ three on the road and two at home. Next week, UCLA will play at Utah on Thursday evening (8:30 p.m., MT in Salt Lake City) and at No. 16-ranked Colorado on Saturday afternoon. Both of those games will be nationally televised โ at Utah on FS1 and at Colorado on CBS. UCLA's final two home games will take place against Arizona State (Feb. 27) and Arizona (Feb. 29).
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NOTES ON THE BRUINS
- UCLA has gone 13-0 this season when limiting the opposition to 73 points or fewer.
- Junior Chris Smith has averaged 15.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 12 Pac-12 games.
- Freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. (8.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) has made 32 of 35 free throws in the Bruins' 12 Pac-12 contests.
- Sophomore Jalen Hill has averaged a team-leading 7.1 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 (+6.48 rpg), through games played Thursday, Feb. 13.
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 22 of 25 games this year (currently averaging 37.4 rebounds per game).
- Through games played Thursday, Feb. 13, UCLA ranked No. 25 in the nation in rebounding margin (+6.48).
- In addition, UCLA ranked No. 32 in the nation (through Thursday, Feb. 13) in offensive rebounds per game (12.24).
- Freshman Tyger Campbell's 2.4 assist-turnover ratio leads the Pac-12 and ranks No. 36, nationally (through Feb. 13).
- Junior Chris Smith ranks third in the Pac-12 and No. 59, nationally, in free throw percentage (85.3%, through Feb. 13).
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UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Junior guard Chris Smith leads the team in scoring (13.1 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (5.6 rpg). He has posted career-high percentages this season in field goals (47.2%), 3-pointers (31.0%) and free throws (85.3%). Through 25 games, Smith has scored 327 points, nearly equaling his two-year total from his freshman and sophomore years (337 points, 66 games). He has scored in double figures in 17 of 25 games and has been UCLA's leading scorer in 11 contests.
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THE 30-POINT CLUB
Against Colorado on Thursday, Jan. 30, Chris Smith became 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 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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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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FREE THROW SHOOTING
The Bruins have shot 70.5 percent from the free throw line, eighth among all Pac-12 programs. UCLA's percentage is significantly higher than last year's mark of 63.3% (a jump by nearly eight percent). The Bruins have shot at least 70.0 percent from the line in four of the previous seven seasons. Chris Smith has led the way with his 85.3% free throw percentage (through all games), but freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. has shot 91.4 percent (32-for-35) in 12 Pac-12 games.
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REBOUNDING MARGIN
UCLA has registered a rebounding margin of +6.48 through 25 games, marking the Bruins' best rebounding margin since the 2007-08 season. 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 42.7% of his career 3-point attempts (shooting 61 for 143) through 56 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 Saturday's home game having averaged 8.0 points and 43 assists per game. Campbell has registered 108 assists and 45 turnovers, compiling the best assist-turnover ratio in the Pac-12 (2.4). Campbell has scored in double figures in 10 games. He has averaged 15.7 points and 6.0 assists in the team's last three games.
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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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AN IMPRESSIVE FEAT
UCLA limited Arizona to a field goal percentage of 25.4 last Saturday night, marking UCLA's lowest opposing FG percentage by a Division I program since Dec. 3, 2014, when Cal State Fullerton shot 24.1% against UCLA (13-of-54). The Bruins had not held a Pac-12 opponent to that low of a percentage since Jan. 10, 1985, when Washington State made just 23.7% of its shots (14-of-59) in UCLA's 75-48 win. Since the start of the 1970-71 season (as far back as game-by-game field goal percentage records will reach), UCLA has never held an opponent on the road to a percentage lower than 27%.
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FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS
Redshirt seniors Prince Ali (7.4 ppg, 2.5 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.).
- When UCLA defeated Arizona, 65-52, on Saturday, Feb. 8, the Bruins won their fourth game at Arizona's McKale Center in their last six contests there. Arizona had gone 119-12 at home over the previous eight seasons (including this season), and UCLA had handed the Wildcats four of those 12 home losses.
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- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 22 of 25 games. The Bruins were out-rebounded by USC (35-31) and California (35-33) and were even at Arizona State (36-36). USC became the first team this season (in UCLA's 16th game of the year) to out-rebound the Bruins. Sophomore Jalen Hill has been the leading rebounder (7.1 rpg, 171 total rebounds).
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- The Bruins have two players who have scored at least 500 career points โ senior Prince Ali and junior Chris Smith. Ali has scored a team-best 841 career points in 112 games (averaging 7.5 points per game). Smith has registered 664 career points through 91 games (averaging 7.3 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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