University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Arizona
UCLA Prepares to Play at No. 23 Arizona on Saturday
February 07, 2020 | Men's Basketball
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Bruins will play at No. 23 Arizona this Saturday in a Pac-12 game that will be nationally televised on ESPN2. Game time is 7 p.m. (PT) / 8 p.m. (MT). Last season, UCLA defeated Arizona, 90-69, in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The Bruins did not face Arizona at the McKale Center last year. UCLA and Arizona have gone 3-3 against each other over the previous three seasons (that includes two meetings in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas). The Bruins have won each of their last two games against Arizona at the McKale Center (UCLA won 82-74 on Feb. 8, 2018; UCLA won 77-72 on Feb. 25, 2017).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: McKale Center
Venue Capacity: 14,644
Tipoff Time: 8:05 p.m. PT (9:05 p.m. MT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network): AM 1150
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
XM Radio Channels: Ch. 381
SIRIUSXM Internet Channel: Ch. 971
ABOUT ARIZONA
Under the direction of 11th-year head coach Sean Miller, Arizona has gone 16-6 this season with a 6-3 mark in Pac-12 play. Most recently, Arizona secured an 85-80 victory against USC on Thursday night at the McKale Center in Tucson. Arizona has three players who have averaged at least 10 points per game – freshman Zeke Nnaji (16.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg), freshman Nico Mannion (14.5 ppg) and freshman Josh Green (12.0 ppg).
UCLA'S MOST RECENT GAME
The Bruins absorbed an 84-66 loss at Arizona State on Thursday night. Cody Riley scored a team-leading 16 points, connecting on 7 of 11 shots, and Tyger Campbell finished with 13 points. Arizona State led throughout the contest, securing a 39-28 advantage by halftime and leading by double digits through the second half. The host Sun Devils shot 50.0 percent from the field (29-for-58) and 58.3 percent from 3-point territory (making 14 of 24 attempts from 3-point distance). Arizona State has won its past four games against UCLA, including a pair of games in Tempe, Ariz.
LAST WEEK'S CONTESTS
Tyger Campbell scored 22 points and dished out eight assists in UCLA's 73-57 win over Utah on Sunday. Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 18 points as the Bruins won their fourth game in five tries. Three days earlier, Chris Smith scored a career-high 30 points as the Bruins outlasted No. 20 Colorado, 72-68, on Thursday. Smith connected on 8 of 16 shots (and 13 of 15 free throw attempts). In those two home games, Smith averaged 18.0 points and shot 52.4 percent overall.
THE 30-POINT CLUB
Against Colorado last week, 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).
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr. was named the Pac-12's Freshman of the Week (for the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2) after he averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the Bruins' two home victories. Jaquez Jr. shot 50 percent from the field through both contests and made 15 of 16 free throw attempts (93.8 percent). He has averaged 9.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in UCLA's 22 games (he has started each of the last 15 games). Last week, he scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a victory over No. 20 Colorado and registered a season-high-tying 18 points in the win against Utah.
NOTES ON THE BRUINS
- UCLA has gone 12-0 this season when limiting the opposition to 73 points or fewer.
- Junior Chris Smith has averaged 14.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 10 Pac-12 games.
- Freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. (9.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) has led the Bruins in scoring in three games this season.
- 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 (+6.95 rpg), through games played Thursday, Feb. 6.
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 20 of 23 games this year (currently averaging 37.1 rebounds per game).
- Through games played Thursday, Feb. 6, UCLA ranked No. 27 in the nation in rebounding margin (+6.4).
- In addition, UCLA ranked No. 36 in the nation (through Thursday, Feb. 6) in offensive rebounds per game (12.3).
- Freshman Tyger Campbell has recorded an assist-turnover ratio (2.63) that ranks 20th in the nation (through Feb. 6).
- Junior Chris Smith ranks third in the Pac-12 and No. 60, nationally, in free throw percentage (85.3%, through Feb. 6).
UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Junior guard Chris Smith leads the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (5.2 rpg), through 23 contests. He has posted career-high percentages this season in overall field goals (47.3%), 3-pointers (31.1%) and free throws (85.3%). In fact, Smith ranked third among Pac-12 players in free throw percentage through Thursday, Feb. 6. Smith has scored 289 points this season (12.6 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 23 games.
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.
REBOUNDING MARGIN
UCLA enters this Saturday's game at Arizona with a rebounding margin of +6.4, 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.
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 42.9% of his career 3-point attempts (shooting 57 for 133) through 54 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's game having averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 assists per game. Campbell has registered 100 assists and 38 turnovers, compiling the best assist-turnover ratio in the Pac-12 (2.63). Campbell has scored in double figures in eight games, including a career-high 22 points against Utah on Sunday, Feb. 2.
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.
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 22 games this season (including in five of the last nine games). Through UCLA's 10 Pac-12 contests, Smith has led the Bruins in scoring five times, Jake Kyman twice, Tyger Campbell once, Cody Riley once and Jaime Jaquez Jr. once. Kyman has scored at least 20 points in two Pac-12 games, while Campbell registered a career-high 22 points in a win over Utah (Feb. 2). Smith has had one game with 30 points (versus Colorado) and another with 22 points (at Washington State).
FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS
Redshirt seniors Prince Ali (7.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) and Alex Olesinski (1.4 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.).
- UCLA has out-rebounded the opposition in 20 of 23 games. The Bruins were out-rebounded in January by USC (35-31) and California (35-33) and were even against 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, 156 total rebounds). He ranks ninth among all Pac-12 players in rebounding and has tallied a team-leading 355 career rebounds.
- The Bruins have two players who have scored at least 500 career points – senior Prince Ali and junior Chris Smith. Ali has scored a team-best 834 career points in 110 games (averaging 7.7 points per game). Smith has registered 626 career points through 89 games (averaging 7.0 points per contest).
- 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).
- 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).
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).
THE BRUINS WHEN ...
Since the start of the 2016-17 season, UCLA has gone 65-9 when leading at halftime (spanning 124 games). During that span, the Bruins have gone 14-34 when trailing at halftime (2-2 when tied at the break). UCLA's largest halftime deficit overcome in that stretch has been 16 points – 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 71-9. When trailing by 10 or more points in a game, UCLA has gone 10-36.
STREAKING
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer played in its last 680 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 224 of 230 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.
