University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Arizona
UCLA to Host Final Home Game Versus Arizona
February 28, 2020 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA will play its final regular-season home game on Saturday night against Arizona (7 p.m., PT). The Bruins are currently tied with Oregon for first place in the Pac-12 standings (with just two regular-season games remaining). UCLA has compiled an all-time record of 58-44 against Arizona, having secured a 65-52 win at Arizona's McKale Center three weeks ago. Last season, UCLA won the lone matchup against Arizona in Pauley Pavilion, 90-69, on Jan. 26, 2019.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Venue Capacity: 13,800
Tipoff Time: 7:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst), Richard Jefferson
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
SATURDAY NIGHT'S PROMOTIONS
UCLA is encouraging fans to arrive early on Saturday evening, as the first 10,000 fans will be able to pick up a "Bruins in the NBA" cheer card at any entrance. Saturday night's national anthem will be performed by 9-year-old actress and singer Madison Taylor Baez. The first 1,000 UCLA students will receive free t-shirts and pizza upon entry. During halftime, one lucky student with a 2019-20 Den Pass will win a free year of tuition (in-state equivalent, valued at $13,000; details). All senior UCLA students are invited to take a photo on the court immediately after the game. Fans can enjoy $3 peanuts and Cracker Jack as well as culinary options from three food trucks – Baby's Burgers, The Tropic Truck, and Middle Feast along the arena's south concourse. Less than 1,000 tickets are available for Saturday's game starting at less than $40 (by clicking here), or fans can visit the box office gameday.
LAST MEETING VERSUS ARIZONA
UCLA outlasted Arizona, 65-52, before 14,644 fans at the McKale Center on Saturday, Feb. 8. UCLA led at halftime, 29-28, and surged ahead in the second half. Chris Smith scored a team-high 15 points and Tyger Campbell finished with 12 points and five assists. The Bruins made 9 of 17 shots from 3-point distance (52.9%) and shot 51.1% in the game (connecting on 23 of 45 shots). UCLA has won three of its last four games against Arizona.
SENIOR NIGHT CEREMONY
Prior to Saturday's game, UCLA will honor four senior student-athletes in advance of their final appearance in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom – Prince Ali, Armani Dodson, Alex Olesinski and Isaac Wulff.
UCLA 75, ARIZONA STATE 72
The Bruins secured their sixth consecutive win on Thursday, defeating Arizona State, 75-72. Jake Kyman scored 21 points off the bench and was 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 13 points and nailed the game-winning 3-pointer with just 0.6 seconds to play in regulation. Jaquez Jr.'s 3-point basket snapped a 72-72 tie and ended UCLA's four-game losing streak against Arizona State. Tyger Campbell had 10 points and a career-high 14 assists.
BEATING THE BUZZER
Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s 3-pointer just ahead of the final buzzer marked UCLA's first game-winning "buzzer beater" since last season, when Kris Wilkes drilled a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds to play at the end of regulation against Notre Dame (Dec. 8, 2018). UCLA has now won 10 of its last 12 games (all in Pac-12 action).
UCLA 70, COLORADO 63
UCLA overcame a nine-point deficit (50-41) with 12:34 to play in the second half last Saturday at No. 18 Colorado. The Bruins tied the contest, 50-50, with 8:50 to play before Tyger Campbell nailed a 3-pointer to put the Bruins ahead for good. Campbell notched his first collegiate double-double (15 points, season-high 11 assists) and Cody Riley scored a team-leading 16 points for UCLA.
UCLA 69, UTAH 58
The Bruins never trailed at Utah on Thursday, Feb. 20, as Jules Bernard scored a team-leading 16 points off the bench (he had 14 points in the first half). Tyger Campbell had 13 points as the Bruins built a 33-21 advantage at halftime and pushed their margin to as many as 20 points with 15 minutes to play. UCLA swept the regular-season series against Utah after having downed the Runnin' Utes in Los Angeles (73-57) on Sunday, Feb. 2.
NOTES ON THE BRUINS
- UCLA has gone 17-0 this season when limiting the opposition to 73 points or fewer.
- Junior Chris Smith has averaged 14.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 16 Pac-12 games.
- Through the last 12 games (10-2 record), UCLA has limited its opposition to 65.7 points per game.
- UCLA leads all Pac-12 teams in road wins (5) in Pac-12 action (having gone 5-3 in the league, away from home).
- Sophomore Jalen Hill has averaged a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th 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 (+6.17 rpg) and No. 23, nationally (through Feb. 27).
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 24 of 29 games this year (currently averaging 36.9 rebounds per game).
- Freshman Tyger Campbell's 2.6 assist-turnover ratio leads the Pac-12 and ranks No. 26 in the nation, through Feb. 27.
THE BRUINS' LEADING SCORER
Junior guard Chris Smith leads the team in scoring (13.0 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (5.4 rpg). He has posted career-high percentages this season in field goals (47.1%), 3-pointers (32.9%) and free throws (85.3%). Through 29 games, Smith has scored 377 points, surpassing his two-year total from his freshman and sophomore years (337 points, 66 games). He has scored in double figures in 19 of 29 games and has been UCLA's leading scorer in 12 contests.
THE 30-POINT CLUB
Against Colorado on 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).
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.
UCLA'S FREE THROW SHOOTING
The Bruins have shot 70.9 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). Freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. has shot 87.0 percent (40-for-46) in 16 Pac-12 games.
REBOUNDING MARGIN
UCLA has registered a rebounding margin of +6.2 through 29 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.
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 41.7% of his career 3-point attempts (shooting 68 for 163) through 60 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%).
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 night's game against Arizona having registered 8.3 points and 4.9 assists per game. Campbell has totaled 143 assists and 55 turnovers, compiling the best assist-turnover ratio in the Pac-12 (2.6). Campbell has scored in double figures in 13 games. He has averaged 10.8 points and 7.6 assists in the last five games.
KYMAN'S 20-POINT GAMES
Freshman Jake Kyman has recorded three games with at least 20 points, all 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. Kyman also had 20 points in a loss at Oregon on Jan. 26 and tallied 21 points (including 19 in the first half) in a victory against Arizona State (Feb. 27).
AN IMPRESSIVE FEAT
UCLA limited Arizona to a field goal percentage of 25.4 on Saturday, Feb. 8, 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%.
FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS
Redshirt seniors Prince Ali (7.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg) and Alex Olesinski (1.3 ppg, 1.7 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.
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 in their last six contests at the McKale Center. 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.
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 24 of 29 games. The Bruins were out-rebounded by USC on Jan. 11 (35-31), California on Jan. 19 (35-33), Washington on Feb. 15 (33-31) and Colorado on Feb. 22 (35-31) and were even at Arizona State on Feb. 6 (36-36). USC became the first team (in UCLA's 16th game of the year) to out-rebound the Bruins.
- Tyger Campbell finished with a career-best 14 assists in the Bruins' 75-72 win over Arizona State on Feb. 27. Campbell tied the Pac-12 freshman single-game assists record (14) that was set by Lonzo Ball in a win over Washington State on March 4, 2017. UCLA has officially tracked single-game assists since the start of the 1973-74 season.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
