UCLA
Villanova
Men's Basketball Set to Play at Villanova on Saturday
December 04, 2023 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team travels to the Northeast this week, playing against Villanova (6-4) in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center. This Saturday evening's game in Philadelphia will be nationally televised on FOX, with Tim Brando and Jim Jackson calling the action. This marks the third consecutive season in which the Bruins will play at least one game in the Northeast portion of the country.
LAST TIME VERSUS VILLANOVA
When these two programs faced each other in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 12, 2021, Johnny Juzang scored 25 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in the Bruins' 86-77 win in overtime. UCLA outscored Villanova, 17-7, over the final 10 minutes in regulation to force the overtime session (final box score).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Capacity: 20,318
Game Time: 4:10 p.m. PT (7:10 p.m. ET)
Television: FOX
TV Talent: Tim Brando (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst)
Radio Broadcast (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 388 and on the SXM App
TICKET INFORMATION
UCLA's season ticket packages for this year's men's basketball campaign are now available. Single-game tickets for UCLA's nonconference home games can be purchased online (link here). For more information about tickets, call UCLA Athletic Sales & Service at (310) 206-5991 or via email at tickets@athletics.ucla.edu. Additional information about season parking permits can be accessed here.
UCLA faculty and staff members can secure a five-dollar ticket for the upcoming home game against CSUN on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. (PT). Please show proper UCLA I.D. at the Pauley Pavilion ticket window on the day of that home contest to purchase at this discounted rate.
UCLA'S WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Bruins' head coach Mick Cronin and sophomores Adem Bona, Will McClendon and Dylan Andrews met with reporters on Tuesday, Dec. 5, in the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, prior to the team's practice. With just one game this week, UCLA's head coach and a trio of players spoke about last week's one-point win over UC Riverside and this Saturday's upcoming matchup at Villanova.
VIDEO (via YouTube): Coach Cronin's video | UCLA's student-athlete video
TRENDS AND PERCENTAGES
UCLA has shot 45.8 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from 3-point range and 74.2 percent at the free throw line, through seven games. Will McClendon (42.1%) and Lazar Stefanovic (37.5%) have led the Bruins from 3-point distance. UCLA's defense has limited the opposition to 37.1 shooting overall, from the field, and 30.6 percent shooting from 3-point territory.
THE LAST TIME OUT
The Bruins edged UC Riverside, 66-65, on Thursday, Nov. 30, as sophomore Dylan Andrews hit a game-winning short-range bank shot with just under four seconds to play. UCLA led UC Riverside in the second half by 11 points (at 55-44) with just under 8:25 to play, but UC Riverside continue to make 3-point shots and took a lead late in the game's final minute. UC Riverside finished the game having made 14 of 32 shots from 3-point range (43.8%) and held UCLA to 40.4 percent shooting overall. Andrews finished with 17 points and five assists, and Will McClendon scored a career-high 11 points.
THREE-POINTERS
Thursday's victory marked UCLA's first win since Feb. 18, 2019, when the opposition made at least 12 shots from 3-point range (USC, 19-for-50, in UCLA's 93-88 home overtime win on Feb. 18, 2019). The Bruins had lost their last six contests when the opposing team made at least 12 shots from 3-point distance. UCLA had not allowed 14 (or more) threes since Arizona State went 14-for-24 from long-range in the Bruins' loss at ASU on Feb. 6, 2020.
SCORING DEFENSE
Through games played on Saturday, Dec. 2, the Bruins ranked No. 4 in the country and first in the Pac-12 in fewest points allowed per game (57.9 ppg). UCLA's field goal percentage defense ranked No. 13, nationally, and No. 1 in the Pac-12 (37.1%, 134-for-361). Under fifth-year UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, the Bruins' scoring defense ranked No. 41 in the nation in 2021-22 (at 64.5 ppg) and No. 7 in the country last season (at 60.7 ppg). UNC won that matchup, 89-76.
HEADED TO THE EAST COAST
UCLA will head back to the East Coast for the third consecutive season. Two years ago, the No. 4-seeded Bruins' season ended with a 77-63 loss to No. 8-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in Philadelphia (Wells Fargo Center). Last winter, UCLA won back-to-back games at Maryland (87-60, on Dec. 14) and against Kentucky in New York City (63-53, on Dec. 17). Prior to those trips, UCLA had not played on the East Coast since competing against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic in Brooklyn (at Barclays Center) on Dec. 19, 2015.
RECENT HISTORY
– UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons. The Bruins earned their 19th NCAA Final Four appearance in 2021, securing a No. 11-seed in the 68-team field and advancing from the "First Four" to the Final Four. In 2022 and 2023, UCLA won its first and second-round matchups before losing in the Sweet 16. In all, UCLA's program has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 52 times and has won a nation-leading 11 NCAA championships.
– Mick Cronin has entered his fifth year as the Bruins' head coach (The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach). Now in his 21st season as a college head coach, Coach Cronin has guided UCLA's program to an 104-38 overall record. He has led the Bruins to a combined 58-19 record in Pac-12 play in four seasons. UCLA's 31 victories last season were the most by any Bruins' squad since UCLA went 31-5 during the 2016-17 season.
– The 2023-24 academic year marks the 105th season in which UCLA has fielded a men's basketball team (the first season was in 1919-20). UCLA moved out of the USA Today Coaches poll rankings last week (had been ranked No. 24, prior to the Allstate Maui Invitational). Last fall, UCLA was ranked No. 8 in the preseason in the AP poll and No. 7 in the USA Today Sports coaches poll. This fall, UCLA as picked No. 3 in the preseason Pac-12 media poll (Arizona was selected No. 1).
NOTES ON PAULEY PAVILION
– This marks the 58th basketball season in which UCLA has played in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins' arena opened in time for the 1965-66 basketball season. The first game in Pauley Pavilion took place on Dec. 3, 1965, as No. 1 UCLA took down Ohio State, 92-66. The Bruins spent 47 consecutive seasons in Pauley Pavilion before the venue was closed for an 18-month renovation. UCLA hosted 18 home games during the 2011-12 season at two venues in Southern California (14 games at the Los Angeles Sports Arena and four games at the Honda Center in Anaheim).
– UCLA went 17-0 at home in 2022-23 and went 14-1 in 15 home games in 2021-22. The Bruins won their final eight home games in 2021-22 and have won their last 29 home games, which stands as the longest active home winning streak in the nation. UCLA's most recent home loss took place in overtime against Oregon (84-81) on Jan. 13, 2022. Since taking over as head coach in April of 2019, Mick Cronin has led UCLA to a 59-6 record in 64 home games. The Bruins last had a winning streak of 25 home games back in 2006-07 (and that streak ended at 25 wins in Dec. 2007).
– UCLA's perfect home record in 2022-23 (going 17-0) marked the Bruins' 11th season in Pauley Pavilion with an undefeated home tally. The Bruins last had an undefeated home mark in 2006-07, going 16-0. UCLA's 1995 NCAA title-winning team went 15-0 at home. Prior to the 1994-95 campaign, the Bruins had not gone undefeated at home since five consecutive undefeated home seasons from 1970-71 through 1974-75.
– The Bruins' 29-game home winning streak marks the longest at UCLA since registering a program-record 98-game home winning streak in the 1970s. The Bruins won 98 straight home games from Dec. 4, 1970, through Feb. 19, 1976. UCLA had a 25-game winning streak in 2006 and 2007 and won 23 consecutive games from Feb. 1994 through Jan. 1996 (includes one game that California later forfeited). The Bruins had a 20-game winning streak from Nov. 1981 through Jan. 1983.
– With the COVID-19 pandemic prompting teams to close arenas to fans, none of UCLA's home games in 2020-21 were played in front of a crowd. Likewise, three home games in January of 2022 were played before no fans (arena was limited to players' family members only). UCLA has won its last 40 home contests with fans present in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom (last home loss with fans was against Stanford on Jan. 15, 2020, by a 74-59 margin).
– The Bruins have won their last 19 consecutive nonconference home games, a streak dating back to the start of the 2020-21 basketball season. UCLA went 7-0 in nonconference home contests last season and 5-0 in those games in 2021-22. The Bruins played just three nonconference home games during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season, opening their home schedule with a 78-52 win over Seattle in Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 3, 2020.
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
UCLA has compiled an all-time record of 3-3 against Villanova, with the Bruins having won the most recent meeting (86-77 in overtime) on Nov. 12, 2021, in Pauley Pavilion. In that game, UCLA overcame a 60-50 deficit with just under 10 minutes to go in the second half. The Bruins forced overtime, as Jules Bernard hit a jump shot in the paint with just under 30 seconds to play in regulation. Looking back at the all-time series, UCLA defeated Villanova, 68-62, in the two programs' first-ever meeting, which occurred in the championship game of the 1971 NCAA Tournament (at the Astrodome in Houston).
MORE ON SEBASTIAN MACK
Freshman Sebastian Mack has averaged 14.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in all seen games. Last week, he secured Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors after averaging a team-leading 19.0 points in three games in the Maui Invitational (Nov. 20-22). Mack totaled 25 points in a 71-69 loss to No. 4 Marquette (Nov. 20), shooting a perfect 13-for-13 at the free throw line. That 13-for-13 effort marked UCLA's first perfect free throw display by a freshman (at least 10 attempts), since Jordan Adams was 16-for-16 off the bench in UCLA's 80-79 win over UC Irvine on Nov. 13, 2012.
YEAR TWO WITH DYLAN
Sophomore Dylan Andrews has averaged 10.2 points and 4.3 assists in six games. The 6-foot-2 guard from Gardena, Calif., played in 35 of 36 games last season as a reserve guard behind veteran point guard Tyger Campbell. Andrews has shot nearly 45 percent from the field (26-for-58), totaling 26 assists and 10 turnovers (assist-turnover ratio of 2.6-to-1). As a freshman, he averaged 3.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game and shot 43.0 percent overall. Most recently, Andrews scored a team-leading 17 points and had the game-winning shot in UCLA's 66-65 win over UC Riverside.
LEADING THE WAY
– Bruins' head coach Mick Cronin has guided the program to an 104-38 overall record (now in his fifth season at UCLA)
– Coach Cronin was named as one of 10 semifinalists for last season's Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Award.
– Coach Cronin has led his teams to at least 20 wins in 14 of his 20 previous seasons as a college head coach.
– Coach Cronin's teams have averaged 25.7 victories per season over the last 13 years (2010-11 through 2022-23).
– Coach Cronin has twice led his teams to 31 victories (last season at UCLA, and in 2017-18 at Cincinnati).
AFTER 142 GAMES
Now in his fifth season at UCLA, head coach Mick Cronin has recorded 104 wins in 142 games. Only Coach Cronin and former UCLA head coach Jim Harrick have won 103 of their first 141 games as the Bruins' head coach. Cronin has guided the Bruins to an 104-38 record, now in his fifth year in Westwood. Over the past three seasons, UCLA has gone 9-3 in the NCAA Tournament with a trip to the Final Four in 2021 and Sweet 16 trips in 2022 and 2023.
STANDING TALL
The Bruins' 15-man roster includes includes five student-athletes who measure at least 6-foot-9-inches tall. Freshman center Aday Mara, from Zaragoza, Spain, stands at 7 feet and 3 inches. During the Bruins' 2018-19 season, then-freshman Moses Brown measured at 7-foot-1 (Brown now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers). Mara becomes the Bruins' tallest player since the late Mike Lanier (7-foot-7, 310 pounds) competed as a reserve center for the Bruins in 1991-92 and 1992-93. Adem Bona, Kenneth Nwuba and Devin Williams are all 6-foot-10, while Berke Buyuktuncel is 6-foot-9.
REPRESENTING MULTIPLE COUNTRIES
UCLA's roster includes student-athletes who grew up in seven different countries, including the United States. The Bruins' nation-by-nation breakdown includes eight players from the United States, two from Nigeria (Adem Bona, Kenneth Nwuba), one from France (Ilane Fibleuil), one from Spain (Aday Mara), one from Turkey (Berke Buyuktuncel), one from Slovenia (Jan Vide) and one from Serbia (Lazar Stefanovic). Bona grew up in Nigeria before moving to Turkey at the age of 13.
– UCLA is one of just five programs this year to have at least seven countries represented on the roster. Arizona, Hawaii and Portland have eight nations represented, while Sacramento State also has seven.
THREE-POINT STREAK SNAPPED
The Bruins went 0-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc in a 78-58 win versus Long Island University on Wednesday, Nov. 15. That ended UCLA's streak of 792 consecutive games with at least one made 3-point field goal. The Bruins' 3-point streak began after going 0-for-14 from 3-point distance in a home loss to No. 2-ranked Stanford (78-63) on Feb. 3, 2000. The Bruins' single-game 3-point record stands at 19 made 3-pointers (going 19-for-31) in an 104-89 win at Colorado on Jan. 12, 2017. Last season, UCLA made a team-high 11 triples in a home win against Norfolk State (Nov. 14, 2022).
BRUINS IN PAC-12 PLAY
Over the previous three basketball seasons, UCLA totaled a 46-13 mark in Pac-12 games. Last year, UCLA went 18-2 in Pac-12 play to capture the league's regular-season title for the first time since 2013 (under then-head coach Ben Howland). UCLA went 15-5 in the Pac-12 in 2021-22 and 13-6 in 2020-21. The Bruins have won 34 of their last 36 Pac-12 home games, with the two losses taking place against USC in March of 2021 and against Oregon in overtime in Jan. of 2022. UCLA will open Pac-12 play at Oregon State on Thursday, Dec. 28 (7 p.m., at OSU's Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.).
