UCLA
Arizona
UCLA to Play at No. 13 Arizona on Thursday
February 05, 2018 | Men's Basketball
UCLA returns to action at No. 13 Arizona on Thursday, Feb. 8. The Bruins' game will be nationally televised by ESPN on Thursday, with tipoff slated for 7 pm PT (8 pm MT). Last season, Arizona won two of three games against UCLA. The Bruins secured a 77-72 win over Arizona at the McKale Center on Feb. 25, 2017. Five Bruins scored in double figures in that game, as Thomas Welsh totaled 14 points and eight rebounds while Bryce Alford scored a team-leading 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: McKale Center (14,644)
Game Time: 7 pm, PT (8 pm, MT)
Television: ESPN
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
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THE SERIES VERSUS ARIZONA
UCLA has posted a 55-43 all-time record against Arizona and has won two of its last four games against the Wildcats at the McKale Center (wins in Feb. 2017 and Jan. 2013). Since the start of the 2012-13 school year, UCLA and Arizona have gone 6-6 against each other. The two programs have faced off in four of the last five Pac-12 Tournaments (UCLA won Pac-12 Tournament games in 2013 and 2014, while Arizona won in 2015 and 2017).
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UCLA DEFEATS USC
Aaron Holiday scored a team-leading 23 points as the Bruins defeated crosstown rival USC, 82-79, in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, Feb. 3. Holiday made 7 of 10 shots, including 5 of 7 attempts from three-point range. Thomas Welsh totaled 21 points and eight rebounds as the Bruins overcame an 11-point deficit in the first half. UCLA trailed USC at halftime, 41-40, and finished by outscoring the visiting Trojans, 6-2, over the final two minutes. Welsh scored UCLA's final five points โ he hit a tie-breaking three-pointer with 52 seconds left and made a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to go.
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FREE THROWS
UCLA has shot 81.7% (98-for-120) from the free throw line in its last five games. Overall, the Bruins have shot 72.0 percent at the charity stripe this season. Aaron Holiday was 9-for-9 at the line against Stanford (Jan. 27), marking his fifth career game where he has made all his free throws (minimum of six attempts). Jordan Adams was UCLA's last player to go 10-for-10 from the line, making all 10 attempts in a win versus Nevada on Nov. 28, 2013.
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TOP REBOUNDER
Through games played Feb. 4, senior center Thomas Welsh ranked No. 15 in the country in rebounds per game (10.3) and was one of just 11 players in the nation to have recorded at least 13 double-doubles. In fact, Welsh currently ranks second in the nation in total career rebounds (915) among any player from one of the "power six" conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC). Seton Hall's Angel Delgado (1,328) leads all players nationwide in career rebounds. Welsh will enter this Thursday night's game ranking No. 6 on UCLA's career rebounds list (915).
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HOLIDAY'S HEROICS
Aaron Holiday ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in scoring (19.2 ppg), through Sunday, Feb. 4. He has totaled at least 20 points in 12 games. He entered his junior season having scored at least 20 points in just three previous games (all as a sophomore in 2016-17). Holiday currently ranks No. 39 on UCLA's all-time scoring list with 1,213 points (he is 159 points shy of becoming the No. 30 all-time scorer in school history). He ranks No. 8 this season in the Pac-12 (all games) in three-point field goal percentage (42.5%, 51-of-120) and is No. 10 in free throw percentage (83.1%, 118-of-142).
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Through games played Sunday, Feb. 4, Holiday was one of six players in NCAA Division I men's basketball to have averaged at least 19.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. Others in that group include Trae Young (Oklahoma), RJ Cole (Howard), Junior Robinson (Mount St. Mary's), Jon Elmore (Marshall) and Jermaine Marrow (Hampton).
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Holiday (33 points and 11 rebounds against Washington State on Dec. 29) became UCLA's first player to record at least 33 points and 11 rebounds in a game since Feb. 26, 1995. Ed O'Bannon had team highs of 37 points and 13 rebounds in UCLA's 100-77 win over Duke in Pauley Pavilion, connecting on 14 of 22 shots.
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Holiday has become just the third UCLA player in the last 20 seasons (1998-99 through 2017-18) to have scored at least 30 points in two or more games in a single season. Jordan Adams had a pair of 30+ point games as a sophomore in 2013-14. Bryce Alford had two games with at least 30 points as a senior in 2016-17.
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Holiday's game-winning layup with 0.9 seconds to play helped UCLA edge Wisconsin, 72-70, in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 21. UCLA trailed the Badgers, 65-59, with 3:30 to play before Holiday scored the Bruins' final 10 points. He scored six of UCLA's final 10 points in the Bruins' 83-75 win over Kentucky in New Orleans (Dec. 23).
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DOUBLE DIGIT FRESHMAN
Freshman guard Kris Wilkes has averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds, starting all 23 games for the Bruins. Wilkes has scored in double figures in 18 of 23 games. He has scored at least 20 points in four contests, twice logging a season-high 21 points. In the Bruins' 82-79 victory Saturday against USC, Wilkes finished with 13 points and five rebounds, connecting on 2 of 4 three-point shots. He ranks fifth in scoring among all Pac-12 freshmen. Wilkes has made 75.0% (36/48) of his free throws in UCLA's last 13 games after having shot 53.3% (24/45) from the line in the team's first 10 contests.
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DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Thomas Welsh (12.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg) has totaled 13 double-doubles this season. He recorded 10 double-doubles as a sophomore in 2015-16. Welsh is the eighth UCLA player in the past 20 years to have logged at least 10 double-doubles in one season. Since the start of the Bruins' 1998-99 campaign, Kevin Love has registered more double-doubles in a single season than any other UCLA player (23 double-doubles in 2007-08). The school's single-season double-doubles record is 28 by Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) during the Bruins' 1967-68 NCAA title-winning season.
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MORE ABOUT UCLA
Aaron Holiday ranks first among all Pac-12 players (in conference games only) in scoring, having averaged 20.9 points in the Bruins' 11 league games (through games played Feb. 4). In addition, Holiday has made 30 of 54 three-point attempts in Pac-12 Conference action, converting at a 55.6% clip (the No. 1 three-point percentage among Pac-12 players).
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The Bruins have shot 50.0% or better in seven games (going 7-1 in those contests). UCLA shot a season-best 58.2% in the team's 107-84 win at California (Jan. 6). Most recently, the Bruins shot 50.9% (29-for-57) in a home victory against USC on Saturday, Feb. 3. UCLA made 12 of 26 three-pointers in the win against USC (46.2% from three-point territory).
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Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh both reached the heralded 1,000-career-point milestone in a Pac-12 victory against Washington State earlier this season (Dec. 29, 2017). In a 33-point, 11-rebound performance, Holiday crossed the 1,000 point marker in the first half of the game. Welsh reached the milestone in the second half of UCLA's victory that night.
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Senior center Thomas Welsh and Arizona's Deandre Ayton are the only players in the Pac-12 to have averaged at Least 10 points and 10 rebounds per game (Welsh currently stands at 13.0 ppg and 10.3 rpg). In addition, Welsh ranks second among all Pac-12 players in defensive boards per game (7.7) and is tie for fourth in offensive rebounds per game (2.7).
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