UCLA
Utah
Men's Basketball to Play at Utah on Thursday Night
January 08, 2024 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The Bruins hit the road to play at Utah on Thursday, Jan. 11. UCLA has gone 17-10 in the all-time series against Utah and has won the last seven meetings. The Bruins have won their last four games against Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, with those victories taking place in Feb. 2020, Feb. 2021, Jan. 2022 and Feb. 2023. Last season, UCLA swept the two-game regular-season series against Utah, including a 78-71 win over the Runnin' Utes in Salt Lake City. The Bruins have gone 13-6 against Utah since the 2011-12 season, when the Runnin' Utes joined the Pac-12 Conference.
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GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Jon M. Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City)
Capacity: 15,000
Tipoff Time: 6:05 p.m. PT (7 p.m. MT)
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (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: SiriusXM 382 and on the SXM App
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MOVING INTO JANUARY
UCLA's schedule has moved into Pac-12 play, with 16 regular-season contests remaining. The Bruins will play five more games this month and eight contests in February before closing the regular-season schedule with a trio of contests in early March. UCLA's January schedule will include a stretch of four road contests in five games โ at Utah this Thursday night, before returning home for a Sunday game against Washington (Jan. 14), and three straight road games at Arizona State (Jan. 17), at Arizona (Jan. 20) and at USC (Jan. 27). Five of UCLA's final seven games this season will be played at home.
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SUNDAY IN PAULEY PAVILION
The Bruins will close the week with a home contest against Washington on Sunday, Jan. 14. Game time in Pauley Pavilion is set for 4 p.m. (PT). Last season, UCLA won both regular-season contests against the Huskies. The Bruins have won their last eight consecutive games against Washington, a winning that began in Seattle with UCLA's 66-64 win on Jan. 2, 2020. UCLA has won its past six games against the Huskies in Pauley Pavilion, with the most recent home setback having occurred on Jan. 28, 2016 (Washington edged the Bruins, 86-84). Washington will host Arizona State this Thursday (8 p.m., PT).
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BRUINS VERSUS HUSKIES
Since the start of the 2011-12 season, UCLA has gone 15-4 against Washington, with a record of 7-1 in Pauley Pavilion. In addition, the Bruins have gone 7-3 at Alaska Airlines Arena and 1-0 in a "home" contest at the Los Angeles Sports Arena during the 2011-12 season while Pauley Pavilion was being renovated.
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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 Sunday, Jan. 7, the Bruins ranked No. 11 in the country and first in the Pac-12 in fewest points allowed per game (62.2 ppg, through 15 games). UCLA's field goal percentage defense ranked No. 30, nationally, and first in the Pac-12 (39.1%). 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). UCLA has allowed fewer than 70 points in 42 of their last 50 games, going 35-7 in those 42 contests (since the start of the 2022-23 season).
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BLOCKED SHOTS LEADERBOARD
Sophomore Adem Bona (12.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg) has totaled 86 blocks in 48 career games (1.8 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 in the summer โ seven true freshmen and one transfer, junior Lazar Stefanovic (from Belgrade, Serbia, transferring from the University of Utah).
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ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The Bruins are believed to have one of the top-10-youngest teams in Division I basketball this season (by age). UCLA's average age at the start of the season was approximately 20 years and one month. UCLA freshman Brandon Williams is believed to be the third-youngest Division I player this season.
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LAST WEEK
The Bruins lost a pair of home contests last week against Stanford (59-53 on Wednesday evening) and versus California (66-57 on Saturday night). Those marked the Bruins' first back-to-back Pac-12 home losses since January of 2020, when UCLA dropped contests to USC and Stanford. Sebastian Mack averaged a team-leading 17.0 points in the two home contests, while Adem Bona registered 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 3.0 blocks per game. Bona shot 9-for-11 from the field (81.8%) and was 8-for-9 at the free throw line last week (88.9%).
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FROM LONG DISTANCE
Sophomore Will McClendon ranked No. 10 among Pac-12 players in 3-point field goal percentage (41.7%), through games played on Sunday, Jan. 7. McClendon, who missed the 2021-22 season recovering from a torn ACL in his right knee, has made 15 of 36 attempts from 3-point distance, through all 15 games. He has made 10 of 21 attempts from 3-point range in UCLA's last eight games (since a win over UC Riverside on Thursday, Nov. 30). McClendon scored 10 points in the Bruins' win at Oregon State on Thursday, Dec. 30, and has averaged 4.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game this season.
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3-POINTERS, AS A TEAM
UCLA enters Thursday's game at Utah having shot 29.0 percent from 3-point range. The Bruins' 2019-20 team shot 32.3 percent from 3-point distance, the lowest single-season percentage by any UCLA team since the NCAA adopted the 3-point arc in 1986-87. UCLA is currently averaging 4.3 made 3-pointers per game, the lowest per-game average since 1996-97 (3.9 made, per game). In addition, UCLA's 14.9 attempts per game are the fewest since the 2012-13 team attempted just 14.7 threes per game. Last season, the Bruins made an average of 6.1 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
After this Sunday's home contest against Washington (4 p.m., PT), UCLA will hit the road to face Arizona State on Wednesday, Jan. 17, and Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 20. Last season, the Bruins went 2-0 in a pair of contests against Arizona State, including a 74-62 win at Desert Financial Center in Tempe, Ariz. (on Jan. 19, 2023). UCLA finished with a 1-2 mark last season against Arizona. Each team protected its home court, before Arizona edged the Bruins by a 61-59 margin in the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena (March 11, 2023).
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UCLA'S LEADING SCORER
Freshman Sebastian Mack has averaged a team-leading 14.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 15 games. The 6-foot-3 guard from Chicago has twice secured Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors this season. He ranks third among all Pac-12 players in most free throws made (71-for-91) 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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NOTES ON PAULEY PAVILION
โ 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).
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โ UCLA's home game winning streak was snapped at 29 games by CSUN on Tuesday, Dec. 19 (CSUN defeated UCLA, 76-72). Prior to the game versus CSUN, the Bruins had not lost at home since Jan. 13, 2022 (an 84-81 overtime loss to Oregon). UCLA's 29-game streak at home had been the longest active streak in the nation. Since taking over as the Bruins' head coach in April of 2019, Mick Cronin has led UCLA to a 59-10 record in 69 home games (85.5%).
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โ Last season, the Bruins went 17-0 at home. Two seasons ago (2021-22), the Bruins compiled a 14-1 record in 15 home games. UCLA won its final eight home games in 2021-22, all 17 last year, and their first four of the 2022-23 home schedule. Before last season, UCLA's program had not gone undefeated at home since the 2006-07 campaign (going 16-0 in Pauley Pavilion). UCLA's 1995 NCAA title-winning team compiled a 15-0 home record.
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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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LEADING THE WAY
โ Bruins' head coach Mick Cronin has guided the program to an 105-45 overall record (now in his fifth season at UCLA).
โ This marks the 21st season as a college head coach for Coach Cronin (also at Murray State and Cincinnati).
โ Over the past three seasons, Coach Cronin has guided UCLA to a 9-3 record in three NCAA Tournament appearances.
โ Coach Cronin has earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors in 2020 and 2023.
โ Coach Cronin was named as one of 10 semifinalists for last season's Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Award.
โ Coach Cronin has led his teams to at least 20 wins in 14 of his 20 previous seasons as a college head coach.
โ Coach Cronin's teams have averaged 25.7 victories per season over the last 13 years (2010-11 through 2022-23).
โ Coach Cronin has twice led his teams to 31 victories (last season at UCLA, and in 2017-18 at Cincinnati).
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON UCLA
โ UCLA's bench has outscored the opposition's bench in nine of 15 games this season (UCLA has gone 5-4 in those nine contests) ... the Bruins' bench combined for 21 points in a 69-62 victory at Oregon State on Thursday, Dec. 30.
โ The Bruins have played games along the East Coast in three consecutive seasons (at Philadelphia, to face Villanova earlier this year) ... at Maryland and in New York City last season, and in Philadelphia for the NCAA Tournament in March 2022.
โ The Bruins have outrebounded the opposition in 11 of 15 games (5-6 record in those 11 contests) ... UCLA recorded a season-high 55 rebounds (including 17 offensive boards) in a win over Chaminade in Honolulu on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
โ Prior to this season, UCLA had registered a 46-13 record in Pac-12 play the previous three years ... last year, UCLA went 18-2 in Pac-12 play, securing its first regular-season conference title since 2013 (under then-head coach Ben Howland).
โ The Bruins have won 34 of their last 38 home Pac-12 contests, with the losses taking place against USC (March 2021), Oregon in overtime (Jan. 2022), Stanford (Jan. 2023) and California (Jan. 2023).
โ Maryland's Jahmir Young registered 37 points against UCLA on Dec. 22, becoming the first player to score at least 37 points in a game against UCLA since De'Aaron Fox totaled 39 for Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament (March 24, 2017).
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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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