UCLA
Stanford
No. 21 UCLA Returns to Action at Stanford on Thursday
November 28, 2022 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – No. 21-ranked UCLA (5-2) returns to action against Stanford (3-4) in the Pac-12 opener for both schools this Thursday night. UCLA's game at Maples Pavilion will be nationally televised on ESPN2. Last season, the Bruins won both regular-season meetings against Stanford, including a 79-70 decision at Stanford's Maples Pavilion (Feb. 8, 2022).
THURSDAY'S GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Maples Pavilion (Stanford, Calif.)
Tipoff Time: 7:31 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Feldman (play-by-play), Corey Williams (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
KEY NOTES ABOUT UCLA
- The Bruins will play at Stanford on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. (PT) at Maples Pavilion. Last season, the Bruins went 2-0 in a pair of regular-season games against Stanford. UCLA has registered a 17-8 record against the Cardinal over the past 11 seasons (2009-10 through 2021-22). Last season, the Bruins averaged 72.5 points and shot 46.3 percent in two games against Stanford. The Cardinal averaged 56.5 points and shot 41.2 percent in two contests versus UCLA.
- UCLA averaged 90.5 points and shot 57.6 percent in a pair of home wins last week, versus Pepperdine on Wednesday and against Bellarmine on Sunday. Over the last four games, the Bruins have averaged 81.5 points and shot 49.4 percent from the field. Jaime Jaquez Jr. has averaged 19.8 points over the Bruins' last four games (shoot 55.0 percent in that span). David Singleton has knocked down 9 of 18 attempts from 3-point distance in UCLA's last four games.
- UCLA's 26 assists in the 81-60 win over Bellarmine on Sunday marked the most by any Bruins' team since the 2016-17 season. Most recently, UCLA finished with 26 assists in a win at Arizona State on Feb. 23, 2017. That season, the Bruins totaled 27 assists in two games, 29 assists in three contests, and 30 assists in a home victory over Arizona State. Tyger Campbell has averaged 4.9 assists in seven games (34 total assists), and Amari Bailey has averaged 3.0 assists per game.
- The Bruins' 100-53 win against Pepperdine (47-point margin) marked UCLA's largest win margin since defeating Wyoming, 113-62, in Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 23, 2008. Last season, the Bruins' largest margin of victory took place at Oregon State (94-55, by 39 points) in their third-to-final game of the regular season. Six UCLA players scored in double figures in last Wednesday's victory against Pepperdine (Amari Bailey scored a team-leading 19 points).
- UCLA concluded the month of November with a 5-2 record. UCLA's first seven games took place over a 21-day span. The Bruins will play the first two of their 20 Pac-12 contests this week, with a road game at Stanford (Thursday night) and a home contest against Oregon (Sunday afternoon). Through games played on Monday, Nov. 28, UCLA ranked No. 8 in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (1.75) and were No. 11 in turnover margin (7.0 fewer turnovers per game).
WHO IS BACK FOR THE BRUINS?
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).
BALANCED SCORING
Five UCLA players have averaged at least 10 points per game, through the season's first seven games. Jaime Jaquez Jr. has averaged a team-high 16.7 points per game, having scored a season-high 27 points in the Bruins' most recent game (Sunday evening, versus Bellarmine). Jaylen Clark (15.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg) entered the week among the top 10 leaders in the Pac-12 in both scoring and rebounding (one of just three Pac-12 players to have accomplished that, along with Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo). Tyger Campbell has averaged 14.0 points and a team-leading 4.9 assists per game.
ASSISTS AND TURNOVERS
The Bruins have compiled an assist-turnover ratio of 1.75-to-1, through seven games. The Bruins' opposition has recorded 87 assists and 120 turnovers (an assist-turnover ratio of 0.73-to-1). Tyger Campbell has registered 34 assists and 13 turnovers, while David Singleton has committed just three turnovers through 195 minutes (averaging 27.9 minutes per game). Freshman guard Dylan Andrews has nine assists and just two turnovers in limited action off the bench (12.8 mpg). More than three weeks into the season, UCLA ranks first among all Pac-12 programs in assist-turnover ratio (1.75).
CLARK CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Junior Jaylen Clark has totaled a team-high 46 rebounds (7.7 rpg) and 16 steals through UCLA's first seven 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 in a win against Sacramento State during his sophomore season (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).
WOODEN AWARD, PRESEASON LIST
Seniors Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. have been named to the 50-person watch list for this season's John R. Wooden Award, which annually honors the nation's top men's and women's college basketball players. The UCLA men's basketball program has seen past standout players Marques Johnson (1977) and Ed O'Bannon (1995) win the Wooden Award. In fact, Marques Johnson won the Wooden Award in 1977, in the award's first-ever season.
Last season, Campbell secured first-team All-Pac-12 acclaim for the second consecutive year. He became the first UCLA player to earn first-team all-conference honors in back-to-back years since Arron Afflalo (2006 and 2007). This season, he has averaged 14.0 points and 4.9 assists through seven games.
Jaquez Jr. was inserted into UCLA's starting lineup during the Maui Invitational (freshman year, in Nov. 2019) and has been a mainstay in the lineup since that week. He has played in 104 career games at UCLA, having averaged 30.8 minutes per contest. He has logged career averages of 12.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest.
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. 53 on the school's all-time scoring list (1,059 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. (1,260 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 679 career points through 134 career games.
1,000 POINTS & 500 ASSISTS
Tyger Campbell has become one of eight UCLA players to have logged at least 1,000 career points and 500 assists in the Bruins' uniform (the assist statistic has been routinely tracked since the 1973-74 season). Seven former UCLA players have accomplished that 1,000-point and 500-assist milestone. Campbell crossed the 500-career-assist benchmark with a 10-assist performance against Bellarmine on Sunday, Nov. 27.
WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
UCLA has added six freshmen to the roster with 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.).
PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK (news release here)
Amari Bailey, a 6-foot-5 guard from Chicago, Ill., was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. Most recently, he averaged 15.5 points and 6.0 assists in two home victories over Pepperdine (100-53, Nov. 23) and Bellarmine (81-60, Nov. 27). He scored a season-best 19 points and had four assists in the win against Pepperdine. Four days later, he finished with 12 points and a season-high eight assists (and four steals) in UCLA's win versus Bellarmine. Bailey shot a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range against Pepperdine and concluded the two-game week having shot 57.1 percent from the field (12-for-21).
THREE-POINT STREAK
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer played in its last 760 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 304 of 312 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).
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.
