UCLA
Arizona State
Men's Basketball to Play at Arizona State on Wednesday
January 16, 2024 | Men's Basketball
TEMPE, Ariz. โ The Bruins will play their next three games on the road, opening with a contest at Arizona State on Wednesday evening. Game time at ASU's Desert Financial Arena is set for 6 p.m. PT (7 p.m. MT in Arizona). The Bruins' contest will be televised by the Pac-12 Network, with Roxy Bernstein and Don MacLean on the call.
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Desert Financial Arena
Capacity: 14,198
Tipoff Time: 6:05 p.m. PT (7:05 p.m. MT)
Television: Pac-12 Network
TV Talent: Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst)
Radio Broadcast (UCLA Sports Network): AM 570
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 390 and on the SXM App
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UP NEXT FOR UCLA
UCLA has returned to the road this week for a pair of contests at Arizona State (Wednesday night) and at Arizona (Saturday afternoon). The Bruins' game on Wednesday at Desert Financial Arena is set to begin at 6 p.m. PT (7 p.m. MT, in Arizona). The Bruins have compiled an all-time record of 74-24 against Arizona State and won both regular-season contests last season. UCLA has won six of its last seven meetings against the Sun Devils. Last year, the Bruins overcame a six-point deficit midway through the second half at Arizona State and won the game, 74-62.
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ABOUT ARIZONA STATE
Under the direction of ninth-year head coach Bobby Hurley, Arizona State enters this Wednesday night's game with a 10-6 record and a 4-1 mark in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils have gone 7-0 at home this season. Arizona State has returned home after having lost at Washington last Thursday night, 82-67.
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THE LAST TIME OUT
Adem Bona scored a team-leading 22 points to lead the UCLA past Washington, 73-61, on Sunday in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Bona made 10 of 13 shots in the Bruins' first victory since Dec. 28, as UCLA snapped a four-game losing streak. UCLA never trailed after taking an 8-7 lead early in the first half. The Bruins pushed their advantage to as many as 13 points in the first half, led by a 30-22 tally at halftime, and regained a double-digit cushion with 15 minutes to play in regulation. Bona, Lazar Stefanovic (15 points) and Sebastian Mack (10 points) all scored in double figures.
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SHOOTING PERCENTAGES
The Bruins shot 50.0 percent from the field in Sunday's win over Washington, marking the third game this year in whichย UCLA has shot at least 50 percent (3-0, in those games). In addition, UCLA was 6-for-14 from the 3-point arc against Washington (42.9 percent) and improved to 2-0 this season when shooting at least 40 percent from 3-point distance. The Bruins shot a team-best 55.6 percent (30-for-54) back on Nov. 15, 2023, in a 20-point home victory over Long Island University. Last season, UCLA went 12-0 in 37 total games when shooting at least 50 percent overall from the field.
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HALFTIME STATISTICS
The Bruins have compiled a 5-4 record when leading at halftime this season and have gone 2-6 when they've trailed at the intermission. UCLA led by as many as 13 points (28-15) during the first half of last Sunday's Pac-12 victory over Washington. The Bruins were ahead at halftime by a 30-22 margin.
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UNDER 60 POINTS
UCLA's 59-53 loss to Stanford on Wednesday, Jan. 3, marked the third time since the 2019-20 season in which the Bruins dropped a game when holding the opposition to under 60 points. Last season, Arizona defeated UCLA at the McKale Center, 58-52, on Jan. 21, 2023. UCLA fell at USC, 54-52, in both teams' regular-season finale on March 7, 2020, at the Galen Center, in what ended up being the final game that season due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Prior to those games, the Bruins had not lost when limiting the opposition to under 60 points since Feb. 21, 2015, at Arizona (UCLA lost, 57-47).
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SCORING DEFENSE
Through games played on Monday, Jan. 15, the Bruins ranked No. 24 in the country and first in the Pac-12 in fewest points allowed per game (63.8 ppg, through 17 games). UCLA's field goal percentage defense ranked No. 41, nationally, and second in the Pac-12 (40.0%). Under fifth-year head coach Mick Cronin, UCLA's 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). The Bruins have allowed fewer than 70 points in 43 of their last 52 games, going 36-7 in those 43 contests (since the start of the 2022-23 season).
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BLOCKED SHOTS LEADERBOARD
Sophomore Adem Bona (12.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) has totaled 86 blocks in 50 career games (1.72 per game). He stands eight blocks shy of entering UCLA's career blocks top-10 leaderboard. Tony Parker (2013-16) registered 94 blocks during his four-year career (10th place), and Ed O'Bannon (1992-95) finished with 95 blocks en route to leading UCLA to the 1995 NCAA Championship (ninth on that list). Jelani McCoy (1996-98) set the program's career record with 188 blocks during his three-year collegiate career. Bona tallied a season-high five blocks in a loss at Oregon on Saturday, Dec. 30.
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BRUINS' YOUTH MOVEMENT
UCLA's 15-man roster includes seven true freshmen, one redshirt freshman (Jack Seidler), three true sophomores and one redshirt sophomore (Will McClendon). In all, the Bruins have 12 players in their first or second seasons on the court. In addition, the Bruins have four true freshmen who will not turn 19 years old until later this year (Jan Vide, Aday Mara, Ilane Fibleuil and Brandon Williams). The Bruins' program added eight new faces last summer โ seven true freshmen and one transfer, junior Lazar Stefanovic (from Belgrade, Serbia, transferring from the University of Utah).
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UCLA'S LAST FIVE GAMES
The Bruins snapped a four-game losing skid last Sunday with a 73-61 win against Washington in Pauley Pavilion. Over the past five games, the Bruins have averaged 57.2 ppg and surrendered an average of 68.0 ppg. Sophomore Adem Bona has registered a team-leading 13.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game during that five-game span, shooting 75.0 percent from the field (27-for-36). UCLA has been out-rebounded by an average of 36.0 rpg to 31.2 rpg in that five-game stretch. In addition, Bona has registered 12 steals and 11 blocks in the Bruins' last five games.
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FROM LONG DISTANCE
Sophomore Will McClendon has shot a team-leading 42.1 percent from 3-point distance (16-for-38), through the Bruins' 16 games. McClendon missed UCLA's 2021-22 season recovering from a torn ACL (right knee). The 6-foot-3 guard from Las Vegas, Nev., has averaged 4.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists this season. In total, 68 percent of McClendon's scoring has come from beyond the 3-point arc. He has made 11 of 14 free throw attempts (78.6%). After opening the year 5 of 15 from 3-point distance (33.3%), McClendon has shot 47.8 percent through the Bruins' last 11 games (11-for-23).
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3-POINTERS, AS A TEAM
UCLA has shot 29.0 percent from 3-point range. The 2019-20 team shot 32.3 percent, the lowest single-season 3-point percentage by any UCLA team (NCAA adopted the 3-point arc in 1986-87). UCLA is averaging 4.4 made threes per game, the lowest per-game average since 1996-97 (3.9 per game). In addition, the 14.7 attempts per game are the fewest since 2012-13 (14.7 per game). Last season, UCLA averaged 6.1 made threes per game and took 17.6 attempts per game.
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MOST THREES, PER GAME
UCLA's 2016-17 team made an average of 9.8 threes per contest, the highest such per-game average in program history. The Bruins made 40.6 percent of their 3-point attempts that season and took an average of 24.2 threes per game. UCLA's 2017-18 squad attempted a school-record 24.6 threes per game.
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GLANCING AHEAD
Looking at next week's schedule, UCLA will play crosstown rival USC at the Trojans' Galen Center on Saturday, Jan. 27. The Bruins are seeking their first victory at USC since Aaron Holiday scored 34 points (6-for-9 from 3-point distance) in an 83-72 win on March 3, 2018. Last season, the Bruins went 1-1 against USC with each team protecting its home court. UCLA has dropped its last five games to the Trojans at the Galen Center, recording an 8-9 all-time record against the Trojans at that venue (USC first began playing at the Galen Center during the 2006-07 season).
UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Freshman Sebastian Mack has averaged a team-leading 13.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 17 games. The 6-foot-3 guard from Chicago has twice secured Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors this season. He ranks second among all Pac-12 players in most free throws made (78-for-101) and has twice made at least 13 free throws in a game. He was 13-for-13 in a loss to No. 4 Marquette (25 points on Nov. 20). Mack's 13-for-13 effort marked UCLA's first perfect free throw display by a freshman (at least 10 attempts) since Jordan Adams (16/16) in an 80-79 win over UC Irvine on Nov. 13, 2012.
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MAKING HIS FREE THROWS
Sebastian Mack has made 13 free throws in two different games this season. Mack has become UCLA's first player since Arron Afflalo (in 2005-06) to have made at least 12 free throws in two or more games. Afflalo was 12-for-12 against Arizona State (1/7/2006) and went 13-for-16 against Arizona (2/4/2006).
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HOME CONTESTS
The Bruins have gone 5-4 in nine home contests this season, shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 28.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Sebastian Mack has averaged 14.9 points and Adem Bona has registered 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per home game. Bona has shot 64.3 percent from the field in those games. UCLA has limited the opposition to 39.0 percent shooting from the field in nine home contests (and 31.3 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line). In addition, the Bruins are averaging 66.9 points per game at home, while limiting the opposition to 60.9 points per contest.
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NOTES ON PAULEY PAVILION
โThis marks the 58th season in which UCLA has played in Pauley Pavilion. The arena opened in time for the 1965-66 basketball campaign. The first game in Pauley Pavilion took place on Dec. 3, 1965, as No. 1 UCLA took down Ohio State (92-66). UCLA spent 47 seasons in Pauley before the venue was closed for an 18-month renovation. UCLA hosted 18 home games in 2011-12 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (14 games) and the Honda Center in Anaheim (four games).
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โ CSUN snapped UCLA's 29-home-game winning streak earlier this season (CSUN won, 76-72, on Dec. 19). Prior to that loss, UCLA hadn't lost at home since Jan. 13, 2022 (an 84-81 overtime loss to Oregon). UCLA's 29-game home streak had been the longest active streak in the country. Since taking over as UCLA's head coach prior to the 2019-20 season, Mick Cronin has guided the Bruins to a 59-10 record in 69 home games (85.5% win percentage).
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โ The Bruins' 29-game home winning streak had marked the longest such streak 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).
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RECENT HISTORY
The Bruins have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons. UCLA secured its 19th NCAA Final Four appearance in 2021, earning a No. 11-seed in the 68-team field and advancing from the First Four to the Final Four. Along the way, the Bruins registered victories over Michigan State, BYU, Abilene Christian, Alabama and Michigan. 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.
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STANDING TALL
UCLA's 15-man roster this season includes five players who stand 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.
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