Friday, November 18
Las Vegas, NV
6:30 PM
UCLA
vs
Illinois
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (photo by Jan Kim Lim)
Photo by: Jan Kim Lim
Bruins Set to Face No. 19 Illinois in Las Vegas on Friday
November 16, 2022 | Men's Basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. โ The No. 8-ranked UCLA men's basketball team faces No. 19-ranked Illinois on Friday night in an opening round matchup of the Continental Tire Main Event, hosted at T-Mobile Arena. The Bruins' game will begin at 6:30 p.m. (PT) and will be nationally televised on ESPNU. Baylor will take on Virginia in the earlier matchup at 4 p.m. that afternoon.
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Friday night's game will mark the first matchup on the hardwood between UCLA and Illinois since Dec. 1997. UCLA's game against either Baylor or Virginia, on Sunday afternoon, will take place at 12 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. (PT). The two winning teams on Friday will place at 12 p.m. on Sunday. The two teams that lose their games on Friday will face off at 2:30 p.m. (PT) on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.
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The Bruins will be back in Las Vegas this week after having advanced to the Pac-12 Tournament's championship game in T-Mobile Arena in March of 2022. UCLA defeated Washington State in a quarterfinal contest and USC in the semifinal round last March, before falling to top-seeded Arizona in the conference's championship contest.
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FRIDAY'S GAME INFORMATION
Venue: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas)
Game Time: 6:30 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPNU
TV Talent: John Schriffen (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
Radio Broadcast (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS XM, SIRIUS XM App Channels: Ch. 84, Ch. 84
Continental Tire Main Event: Tournament bracket
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UCLA's complete schedule (2022-23): https://ucla.in/3Cc9T62
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KEY NOTES ABOUT UCLA
โ UCLA has opened the season with a 3-0 record for the second straight year (last season, the Bruins won their first five games). Five Bruins have averaged at least 10 points per game, with each of those players having scored in double figures in each of UCLA's three contests. Jaylen Clark enters this Friday's matchup with Illinois having averaged a team-best 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, through three contests. Clark has shot 66.7 percent from the field (20-for-30).
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โ The Bruins have averaged 85.0 points per game in three non-conference contests, having shot 51.8 percent from the field. UCLA has made 43.3 percent (26-of-60) of their 3-point attempts and have limited the opposition to just 18.9 percent from 3-point distance (10-for-53). UCLA has registered 49 assists and 31 turnovers (1.6 assist-turnover ratio), while the opposition has tallied 29 assists and 51 turnovers (an assist-turnover ratio of 0.6-to-1).
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โ UCLA's program has returned five of the main 11 contributors from last year. UCLA went 27-8 overall last season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Key players back include seniors Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kenneth Nwuba and David Singleton and junior Jaylen Clark. Each of those student-athletes played in at least 20 games in 2021-22. All five competed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament (the "First Four" to the Final Four). UCLA also has returned one pair of redshirt freshmen in Mac Etienne and Will McClendon, who both missed last season with knee injuries (torn ACL).
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โ The Bruins improved to 3-0 on Monday with an 86-56 win over Norfolk State (in Pauley Pavilion). Six UCLA players scored in double figures, with Jaylen Clark leading the team in both scoring (19 points) and rebounding (nine boards). Clark made a career-best five 3-point shots (going 5-for-8 from long-range), while David Singleton was 2-for-4 from 3-point territory. In all, the Bruins made 11 of 25 attempts from 3-point range and carried a 46-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.
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CONTINENTAL TIRE MAIN EVENT (event website)
UCLA will face Illinois on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, Nev.). The Bruins have gone 6-3 in the all-time series against Illinois, but these two programs have not faced off since a home-and-home series during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. The two schools split those games, with the home team winning on its home floor. Looking ahead to Sunday's potential matchup(s), UCLA has compiled a 3-1 all-time mark against Baylor and has won its only previous meeting against Virginia (at the 1990 Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska). The Bruins last faced Baylor on Dec. 23, 1975.
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HISTORY & TRADITION
The 2022-23 school year marks the 104th season in which UCLA has fielded a men's basketball team (first season was 1919-20). In addition, this is the 57th season in which the Bruins have called Pauley Pavilion their home. The arena opened at the start of the 1965-66 season, and UCLA spent the next 46 seasons playing home games in Pauley Pavilion. The arena was closed for an 18-month renovation during the 2011-12 school year, re-opening in Nov. 2012. In all, the Bruins have won a nation-leading 11 NCAA Championships and have advanced to the NCAA Final Four 19 times.
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THE BRUINS' SCHEDULE
UCLA is playing a 31-game regular-season schedule, with seven games against programs that were ranked in the Associated Press' preseason top 25 poll. UCLA's schedule includes 17 games at home, 11 games on the road, and three contests at neutral sites (two in Las Vegas, one in New York). The Bruins could play as many as eight games against teams that advanced to last season's 68-team NCAA Tournament (includes two against Arizona, two versus USC and one game each against Baylor, Illinois, Kentucky and Norfolk State). UCLA will play 14 games before the end of the 2022 calendar year.
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PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Seniors Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell were named preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selections (selected by media members in October). Jaquez Jr., a 6-foot-7 guard/forward, has been named a preseason first-team All-America selection by CBS Sports and The Athletic. Both Jaquez Jr. and Campbell were named first-team All-Pac-12 selections last season, along with former teammate Johnny Juzang (all three players were in their junior seasons). Campbell, a 5-foot-11 guard, has been recognized as a first-team All-Pac-12 selection the last two years (sophomore in 2020-21; junior in 2021-22).
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CLARK CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Junior Jaylen Clark has totaled a team-high 24 rebounds (8.0 rpg) and 13 steals through the first three games. He tallied seven steals in the team's season-opening win against Sacramento State, marking the largest single-game steals total for any UCLA player since Jordan Adams had eight steals during his sophomore season against Sacramento State (game played in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 18, 2013). UCLA's single-game record of 11 steals was set by Tyus Edney in a home win over George Mason on Dec. 22, 1994 (the same season in which UCLA won the 1995 NCAA Championship).
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RARE ACCOMPLISHMENT
Jaylen Clark and Earl Watson are the only UCLA players to have recorded at least seven steals and eight rebounds in one game. Clark had seven steals and eight rebounds (and 17 points) on Nov. 7 against Sacramento State. Watson had seven steals, eight rebounds and six points against Northern Arizona on Dec. 18, 1997.
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1,000 POINT CLUB
Tyger Campbell became the 60th UCLA player to have scored at least 1,000 career points (in a Bruins' uniform) in the first half of UCLA's win over Long Beach State on Friday, Nov. 11. He currently ranks No. 56 (tie) on the school's all-time scoring list (1,025 points). Campbell entered the contest against Long Beach State having scored 996 career points. He crossed the 1,000 point threshold on a 3-point basket in the first six minutes of the first half. Campbell and Jaquez Jr. (1,181 career points) are the only current UCLA players to have reached that 1,000-career-point milestone. Looking at UCLA's veteran student-athletes, David Singleton ranks third (among current players) with 638 career points through 130 career games.
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WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
UCLA has added six freshmen to the roster this season โ guards Dylan Andrews, Amari Bailey, Abramo Canka and Jack Seidler and forwards Adem Bona and Evan Manjikian. Bailey (6-foot-5 guard) and Bona (6-foot-10 forward) were both honored as McDonald's All-America selections in the spring of 2022. Bailey was recently listed as a preseason honorable mention All-Pac-12 Conference selection (along with junior Jaylen Clark). Andrews (6-foot-2 guard) spent his first three years of high school at nearby Windward School (Los Angeles) before excelling as a senior at Compass Prep in Arizona. Bona averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season as a senior at Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.).
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JAYLEN THE SPARK PLUG
Junior Jaylen Clark has been a go-to contributor in the Bruins' first three games. He has averaged team-highs with 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game (has also averaged 4.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game). This isn't the first time in which Clark has filled up the stat sheet, both on offense and defense. He had a five-game stretch in Feb. 2022, averaging 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 steals (the Bruins went 4-1 in those five contests).
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THREE-POINT STREAK
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer played in its last 756 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 300 of 308 games since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Bruins made a school single-game-record 19 three-pointers, on 31 attempts, in a 104-89 win at Colorado on Jan. 12, 2017. UCLA's previous 3-point record was set earlier that season, as the Bruins made 18 of 30 attempts in the regular-season opener against Pacific (Nov. 11, 2016). UCLA has made 17 or more 3-point field goals in four games (19 once, 18 once and 17 twice).
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL'S POSITIONAL AWARDS
UCLA has four student-athletes who have been named to the position-by-position award watch lists, as announced in October by tne Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Senior Tyger Campbell is among 20 candidates for the Bob Cousy Award (point guard of the year), as Campbell was one of five finalists last season. Freshman Amari Bailey has been named to the 20-person watch list for the Jerry West Award (shooting guard of the year). Senior Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been listed to the 20-person watch list for this year's Julius Erving Award (small forward of the year). Jaquez Jr. was one of five finalists for that award last season. Freshman Adem Bona is among 20 candidates for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center of the year). Those lists will be reduced to five finalists in February 2023.
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POSTSEASON SUCCESS
UCLA has compiled a 7-2 NCAA Tournament record over the past two seasons. The Bruins went 5-1 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, advancing from the First Four to the Final Four. There was no NCAA Tournament in March of 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic). UCLA stands as one of six teams in the nation to have advanced to the Sweet 16, or farther, in 2021 and 2022 (other five schools are Arkansas, Gonzaga, Houston, Michigan and Villanova). No school advanced to the Final Four in both 2021 and 2022. Only Arkansas and Houston moved on to the Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022. Gonzaga, Houston and Michigan are the only programs to have advanced to the Sweet 16 (or farther) in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
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EYE OF THE TYGER
Last season, guard Tyger Campbell secured first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the second straight season. He became UCLA's first player to earn first-team all-league acclaim in back-to-back years since Arron Afflalo (2006, 2007). Campbell ranked No. 6 in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (3.3) and No. 3 in the Pac-12 in assists per game (4.2). In addition, he became the Bruins' first player since Darren Collison (2006-09) to serve as the primary point guard for at least three straight seasons. From 2011-12 through 2018-19, UCLA had used seven different players as the team's starting point guard.
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TOP-25 POLLS (complete polls here)
The Bruins have been ranked No. 8 in the "Week 2" Associated Press (AP) poll and No. 7 in the Coaches' Poll, as announced on Monday, Nov. 14. UCLA was ranked in every top 25 poll (both the AP and Coaches' Polls) during the 2021-22 season. The Bruins opened the 2022-23 preseason ranked in the same positions in both major polls.
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Friday night's game will mark the first matchup on the hardwood between UCLA and Illinois since Dec. 1997. UCLA's game against either Baylor or Virginia, on Sunday afternoon, will take place at 12 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. (PT). The two winning teams on Friday will place at 12 p.m. on Sunday. The two teams that lose their games on Friday will face off at 2:30 p.m. (PT) on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.
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The Bruins will be back in Las Vegas this week after having advanced to the Pac-12 Tournament's championship game in T-Mobile Arena in March of 2022. UCLA defeated Washington State in a quarterfinal contest and USC in the semifinal round last March, before falling to top-seeded Arizona in the conference's championship contest.
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FRIDAY'S GAME INFORMATION
Venue: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas)
Game Time: 6:30 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPNU
TV Talent: John Schriffen (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
Radio Broadcast (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS XM, SIRIUS XM App Channels: Ch. 84, Ch. 84
Continental Tire Main Event: Tournament bracket
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UCLA's complete schedule (2022-23): https://ucla.in/3Cc9T62
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KEY NOTES ABOUT UCLA
โ UCLA has opened the season with a 3-0 record for the second straight year (last season, the Bruins won their first five games). Five Bruins have averaged at least 10 points per game, with each of those players having scored in double figures in each of UCLA's three contests. Jaylen Clark enters this Friday's matchup with Illinois having averaged a team-best 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, through three contests. Clark has shot 66.7 percent from the field (20-for-30).
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โ The Bruins have averaged 85.0 points per game in three non-conference contests, having shot 51.8 percent from the field. UCLA has made 43.3 percent (26-of-60) of their 3-point attempts and have limited the opposition to just 18.9 percent from 3-point distance (10-for-53). UCLA has registered 49 assists and 31 turnovers (1.6 assist-turnover ratio), while the opposition has tallied 29 assists and 51 turnovers (an assist-turnover ratio of 0.6-to-1).
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โ UCLA's program has returned five of the main 11 contributors from last year. UCLA went 27-8 overall last season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Key players back include seniors Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kenneth Nwuba and David Singleton and junior Jaylen Clark. Each of those student-athletes played in at least 20 games in 2021-22. All five competed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament (the "First Four" to the Final Four). UCLA also has returned one pair of redshirt freshmen in Mac Etienne and Will McClendon, who both missed last season with knee injuries (torn ACL).
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โ The Bruins improved to 3-0 on Monday with an 86-56 win over Norfolk State (in Pauley Pavilion). Six UCLA players scored in double figures, with Jaylen Clark leading the team in both scoring (19 points) and rebounding (nine boards). Clark made a career-best five 3-point shots (going 5-for-8 from long-range), while David Singleton was 2-for-4 from 3-point territory. In all, the Bruins made 11 of 25 attempts from 3-point range and carried a 46-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.
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CONTINENTAL TIRE MAIN EVENT (event website)
UCLA will face Illinois on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, Nev.). The Bruins have gone 6-3 in the all-time series against Illinois, but these two programs have not faced off since a home-and-home series during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. The two schools split those games, with the home team winning on its home floor. Looking ahead to Sunday's potential matchup(s), UCLA has compiled a 3-1 all-time mark against Baylor and has won its only previous meeting against Virginia (at the 1990 Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska). The Bruins last faced Baylor on Dec. 23, 1975.
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HISTORY & TRADITION
The 2022-23 school year marks the 104th season in which UCLA has fielded a men's basketball team (first season was 1919-20). In addition, this is the 57th season in which the Bruins have called Pauley Pavilion their home. The arena opened at the start of the 1965-66 season, and UCLA spent the next 46 seasons playing home games in Pauley Pavilion. The arena was closed for an 18-month renovation during the 2011-12 school year, re-opening in Nov. 2012. In all, the Bruins have won a nation-leading 11 NCAA Championships and have advanced to the NCAA Final Four 19 times.
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THE BRUINS' SCHEDULE
UCLA is playing a 31-game regular-season schedule, with seven games against programs that were ranked in the Associated Press' preseason top 25 poll. UCLA's schedule includes 17 games at home, 11 games on the road, and three contests at neutral sites (two in Las Vegas, one in New York). The Bruins could play as many as eight games against teams that advanced to last season's 68-team NCAA Tournament (includes two against Arizona, two versus USC and one game each against Baylor, Illinois, Kentucky and Norfolk State). UCLA will play 14 games before the end of the 2022 calendar year.
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PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Seniors Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell were named preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selections (selected by media members in October). Jaquez Jr., a 6-foot-7 guard/forward, has been named a preseason first-team All-America selection by CBS Sports and The Athletic. Both Jaquez Jr. and Campbell were named first-team All-Pac-12 selections last season, along with former teammate Johnny Juzang (all three players were in their junior seasons). Campbell, a 5-foot-11 guard, has been recognized as a first-team All-Pac-12 selection the last two years (sophomore in 2020-21; junior in 2021-22).
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CLARK CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Junior Jaylen Clark has totaled a team-high 24 rebounds (8.0 rpg) and 13 steals through the first three games. He tallied seven steals in the team's season-opening win against Sacramento State, marking the largest single-game steals total for any UCLA player since Jordan Adams had eight steals during his sophomore season against Sacramento State (game played in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 18, 2013). UCLA's single-game record of 11 steals was set by Tyus Edney in a home win over George Mason on Dec. 22, 1994 (the same season in which UCLA won the 1995 NCAA Championship).
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RARE ACCOMPLISHMENT
Jaylen Clark and Earl Watson are the only UCLA players to have recorded at least seven steals and eight rebounds in one game. Clark had seven steals and eight rebounds (and 17 points) on Nov. 7 against Sacramento State. Watson had seven steals, eight rebounds and six points against Northern Arizona on Dec. 18, 1997.
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1,000 POINT CLUB
Tyger Campbell became the 60th UCLA player to have scored at least 1,000 career points (in a Bruins' uniform) in the first half of UCLA's win over Long Beach State on Friday, Nov. 11. He currently ranks No. 56 (tie) on the school's all-time scoring list (1,025 points). Campbell entered the contest against Long Beach State having scored 996 career points. He crossed the 1,000 point threshold on a 3-point basket in the first six minutes of the first half. Campbell and Jaquez Jr. (1,181 career points) are the only current UCLA players to have reached that 1,000-career-point milestone. Looking at UCLA's veteran student-athletes, David Singleton ranks third (among current players) with 638 career points through 130 career games.
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WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
UCLA has added six freshmen to the roster this season โ guards Dylan Andrews, Amari Bailey, Abramo Canka and Jack Seidler and forwards Adem Bona and Evan Manjikian. Bailey (6-foot-5 guard) and Bona (6-foot-10 forward) were both honored as McDonald's All-America selections in the spring of 2022. Bailey was recently listed as a preseason honorable mention All-Pac-12 Conference selection (along with junior Jaylen Clark). Andrews (6-foot-2 guard) spent his first three years of high school at nearby Windward School (Los Angeles) before excelling as a senior at Compass Prep in Arizona. Bona averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season as a senior at Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.).
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JAYLEN THE SPARK PLUG
Junior Jaylen Clark has been a go-to contributor in the Bruins' first three games. He has averaged team-highs with 17.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game (has also averaged 4.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game). This isn't the first time in which Clark has filled up the stat sheet, both on offense and defense. He had a five-game stretch in Feb. 2022, averaging 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 steals (the Bruins went 4-1 in those five contests).
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THREE-POINT STREAK
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer played in its last 756 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 300 of 308 games since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Bruins made a school single-game-record 19 three-pointers, on 31 attempts, in a 104-89 win at Colorado on Jan. 12, 2017. UCLA's previous 3-point record was set earlier that season, as the Bruins made 18 of 30 attempts in the regular-season opener against Pacific (Nov. 11, 2016). UCLA has made 17 or more 3-point field goals in four games (19 once, 18 once and 17 twice).
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL'S POSITIONAL AWARDS
UCLA has four student-athletes who have been named to the position-by-position award watch lists, as announced in October by tne Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Senior Tyger Campbell is among 20 candidates for the Bob Cousy Award (point guard of the year), as Campbell was one of five finalists last season. Freshman Amari Bailey has been named to the 20-person watch list for the Jerry West Award (shooting guard of the year). Senior Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been listed to the 20-person watch list for this year's Julius Erving Award (small forward of the year). Jaquez Jr. was one of five finalists for that award last season. Freshman Adem Bona is among 20 candidates for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center of the year). Those lists will be reduced to five finalists in February 2023.
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POSTSEASON SUCCESS
UCLA has compiled a 7-2 NCAA Tournament record over the past two seasons. The Bruins went 5-1 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, advancing from the First Four to the Final Four. There was no NCAA Tournament in March of 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic). UCLA stands as one of six teams in the nation to have advanced to the Sweet 16, or farther, in 2021 and 2022 (other five schools are Arkansas, Gonzaga, Houston, Michigan and Villanova). No school advanced to the Final Four in both 2021 and 2022. Only Arkansas and Houston moved on to the Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022. Gonzaga, Houston and Michigan are the only programs to have advanced to the Sweet 16 (or farther) in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
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EYE OF THE TYGER
Last season, guard Tyger Campbell secured first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the second straight season. He became UCLA's first player to earn first-team all-league acclaim in back-to-back years since Arron Afflalo (2006, 2007). Campbell ranked No. 6 in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (3.3) and No. 3 in the Pac-12 in assists per game (4.2). In addition, he became the Bruins' first player since Darren Collison (2006-09) to serve as the primary point guard for at least three straight seasons. From 2011-12 through 2018-19, UCLA had used seven different players as the team's starting point guard.
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TOP-25 POLLS (complete polls here)
The Bruins have been ranked No. 8 in the "Week 2" Associated Press (AP) poll and No. 7 in the Coaches' Poll, as announced on Monday, Nov. 14. UCLA was ranked in every top 25 poll (both the AP and Coaches' Polls) during the 2021-22 season. The Bruins opened the 2022-23 preseason ranked in the same positions in both major polls.
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