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LOS ANGELES – No. 10/8 UCLA will return to action against USC this Thursday night in a Pac-12 showdown in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Game time is 6:30 p.m. (PT). The Bruins’ game against crosstown rival USC will be nationally televised on ESPN.
UCLA (13-2, 4-0 Pac-12) has won 10 consecutive games, entering Thursday night’s contest. The Bruins most recently secured Pac-12 road wins at Washington State (Friday, Dec. 30) and at Washington (Sunday, Jan. 1). UCLA has opened conference play with a 4-0 record for the second time in the last three seasons – previously, in 2020-21. Following this Thursday’s game against USC, the Bruins will be back in action next week against Utah (on Thursday, Jan. 12) and versus Colorado (Saturday, Jan. 14).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Tipoff Time: 6:35 p.m. (PT)
Television: ESPN
TV Talent: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio Broadcast (UCLA Sports Network): AM 1150
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
SIRIUS XM, SIRIUS XM App Channels: Ch. 83, Ch. 83
THURSDAY NIGHT’S BLUE OUT
UCLA encourages all fans to arrive early on Thursday night and to wear blue (as part of the annual “Blue Out” against USC). Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. Thursday’s game marks just one of two meetings this season between UCLA and USC – and the only meeting in Pauley Pavilion (UCLA will play at USC on Thursday, Jan. 26). Thursday’s pregame festivities will include a performance of the national anthem by UCLA alum, saxophonist Austin Gatus ’19 and a “Blue Out” T-shirt giveaway for all students and fans.
VERSUS THE TROJANS
Last season, UCLA won the final two of three games against the Trojans, including a 69-59 victory in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. USC defeated UCLA at the Galen Center in February, before UCLA answered with a 75-68 win against the Trojans in the final regular-season game (in Pauley Pavilion). Over the past six seasons, UCLA has gone 7-7 against USC.
– Jaime Jaquez Jr. averaged 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in three games against USC last season. In addition, Tyger Campbell averaged 16.7 points and 3.0 assists, shooting 50 percent from 3-point distance (6-for-12).
BACK FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
UCLA’s road wins last week against Washington State (Friday) and Washington (Sunday) helped the Bruins extend their winning streak to 10 games. The Bruins are 4-0 in Pac-12 play for the second time in three seasons (also during the 2020-21 campaign). In two victories last week, Jaime Jaquez Jr. averaged 18.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Adem Bona was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
LOW TURNOVERS
Led by point guard Tyger Campbell (13.6 ppg, 4.6 apg), UCLA has registered an assist-turnover ratio of 1.6-to-1, which ranks No. 7 in the nation (through Sunday, Jan. 1). The Bruins have committed fewer turnovers than their opponent in all 15 games this season. Through Sunday’s contests, UCLA ranked No. 3 in the nation in turnover margin (+7.5 per game), the best turnover margin among any Pac-12 program (Arizona State was second in the Pac-12 at +1.6 per game).
KEY NOTES ABOUT UCLA
– UCLA has won 10 consecutive games since losing back-to-back games to No. 19 Illinois (79-70) and No. 5 Baylor (80-75) at T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas). During the winning streak, Jaime Jaquez Jr. has averaged 18.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, shooting 57.8 percent from the field (25-for-28 on free throws). Tyger Campbell has averaged 12.7 points and 4.6 assists during the streak, totaling 46 assists and 18 turnovers (an assist-turnover ratio of 2.6-to-1 in that span).
– The Bruins have limited the opposition to 58.1 points per game during the 10-game winning streak (holding the opposition to 29.1% from 3-point range). Looking at recent lengthy winning streaks, UCLA had one 10-game streak late during the 2016-17 season and had opened the 2016-17 campaign with 13 consecutive wins (UCLA finished that year 31-5). The Bruins won 14 straight games in February and March of 2008 (culminating in a third consecutive Final Four appearance).
– Last weekend, UCLA recorded its first “road sweep” of Washington State and Washington since the 2016-17 season. The Bruins have opened Pac-12 play with four consecutive wins (one at home and three on the road). Overall this season, UCLA has gone 4-0 in true road games (Stanford, Maryland, Washington State and Washington) and are 5-2 in six games played away from home. The Bruins will play their next three games at home (vs. USC, Utah and Colorado).
– Featuring a balanced scoring arsenal, UCLA currently has four players who have averaged at least 10 points per game. Jaime Jaquez Jr. (17.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg) leads that group and ranks No. 4 in scoring in the Pac-12. Jaylen Clark (14.1 ppg), Tyger Campbell (13.6 ppg) and David Singleton (10.6 ppg) round out that group of four Bruins. In addition, freshmen Amari Bailey (9.5 ppg) and Adem Bona (8.0 ppg) have each averaged at least eight points per game this season.
– The Bruins ranked No. 4 in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings (KenPom.com), through games played Sunday, Jan. 1. UCLA has compiled the No. 6-ranked offensive efficiency and are No. 7 in the defensive efficiency category (one of two teams, along with UConn, to rank among the top 10 in both categories). Ranked No. 10 in the AP poll, and No. 8 in the USA Today Sports Coaches poll, UCLA has been ranked in each of the last 28 AP polls (since the start of the 2021-22 season).
UCLA’S ROSTER CONSTRUCTION
The Bruins returned five of their primary 11 contributors from last year’s team. UCLA went 27-8 overall last season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Key returners 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 two redshirt freshmen in forward Mac Etienne and guard Will McClendon, who both missed last season with knee injuries (torn ACL).
– Senior David Singleton ranks second on UCLA’s all-time 3-point percentage list (44.9%) in 142 career contests. Through Sunday, Jan. 1, Singleton ranked No. 2 in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (50.0%). He has made 11 of 18 attempts (3-point range) in four Pac-12 games (61.1 percent).
– UCLA’s assist-turnover ratio (1.6) ranks No. 7, nationally, and leads all Pac-12 teams. Tyger Campbell has recorded an assist-turnover ratio of 2.56, which ranked No. 45 in the nation (No. 2 in the Pac-12), through Sunday, Jan. 1. David Singleton has 19 assists and six turnovers, while Dylan Andrews has 18 assists and five turnovers.
ROAD WARRIORS
In addition to UCLA’s 74-49 win last Sunday at Washington (Jan. 1), the Bruins also notched an 87-60 victory at Maryland on Dec. 14. Other substantial road wins, as of late, included a 67-56 win at Marquette in Dec. 2021 (UCLA led at halftime, 35-21) and at Oregon State in March of 2022 (UCLA won that game, 94-55). Against Stanford (Dec. 1, 2022), the Bruins raced to a 17-0 lead and won that game, 80-66. Against Maryland, UCLA led 39-11 with 3:30 to play before halftime.
– Last season, UCLA went 13-7 in road/neutral site games. In 2020-21, the Bruins went 11-9 in contests played away from home. This season, UCLA has gone 5-2 in six road/neutral site contests.
BRUINS DEFEAT KENTUCKY, 63-53
UCLA took down No. 13-ranked Kentucky, 63-53, before a crowd of 20,261 at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of this season’s CBS Sports Classic on Saturday, Dec. 17. Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four steals in the win. Kentucky finished that game with its lowest shooting percentage (32.8%) of the season and a season-high 18 turnovers. The Bruins had last faced Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans in Dec. of 2017 (winning that game, 83-75). UCLA has won four of its last five matchups against Kentucky over the past seven seasons (since Dec. 2015).
JAQUEZ JR. AND CAMPBELL
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 13.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and a team-leading 4.6 assists in 15 games.
– Jaquez Jr. was inserted into the starting lineup during the Maui Invitational (as a freshman in Nov. 2019) and has been a mainstay in the lineup since that week. He has played in 111 career games, averaging 30.8 minutes per contest. He has logged career averages of 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
– Jaquez Jr. (1,401 points) and Campbell (1,186 points) have both crossed the 1,000-career point threshold. Jaquez Jr. accomplished that historic feat last season, and Campbell reached that milestone in the second game of this season. Jaquez Jr. currently ranks No. 28 (tied) on the all-time list and Campbell ranks No. 46.
– Campbell has become one of eight UCLA players to have logged at least 1,000 career points and 500 assists in the Bruins’ uniform (of note, the assist stat has been tracked at UCLA since the start of the 1973-74 season). Campbell currently ranks No. 6 on the Bruins’ career assists list (538 total assists).
JAYLEN THE SPARK PLUG
Junior Jaylen Clark has been a key contributor for the Bruins this season. He has averaged 14.1 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game (14 contests). Clark had entered the week as the Pac-12 leader in steals (38, 2.7 spg) and had totaled 27 assists. Last season, Clark had a five-game stretch as a sophomore (Feb. 2022) where he had averaged 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 steals (UCLA went 4-1 in those five contests).
PRECISION FROM 3-POINT RANGE
Fifth-year senior guard David Singleton has averaged a career-best 10.6 points per game (15 contests). He ranks second among all Pac-12 players in 3-point shooting percentage (50.0%), having connected on 34 of his 68 long-range attempts. In addition, Singleton’s career 3-point percentage (44.9%) currently ranks No. 2 among all UCLA players in program history. The 6-foot-4 guard from Los Angeles has made 11 of 18 attempts from 3-point range (61.1%) in UCLA’s four Pac-12 games. He has now made at least 34 attempts from 3-point distance in each of his five seasons on the court at UCLA.
HIGH-LEVEL FRESHMEN
Freshman guard Amari Bailey (9.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg) and freshman forward Adem Bona (8.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) have played significant roles for the Bruins this season. Bailey has twice totaled 19 points in a game (most recently, at Stanford on Dec. 1). Both players have already been honored as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. Bona earned that award on Monday (Jan. 2), after having registered 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in a road sweep at the Washington schools. Bona scored a season-high 18 points and had three blocked shots on Sunday as the Bruins cruised past Washington, 74-49.
THREE-POINT STREAK
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer in its last 768 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 311 of 320 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).
HISTORY & TRADITION
The 2022-23 school year marks the 104th season in which UCLA has fielded a men’s basketball team (first season was 1919-20). In addition, this is the 57th season in which the Bruins have called Pauley Pavilion their home. The arena opened at the start of the 1965-66 season, and UCLA spent the next 46 seasons playing home games in Pauley Pavilion. The arena was closed for an 18-month renovation during the 2011-12 school year, re-opening in Nov. 2012. In all, the Bruins have won a nation-leading 11 NCAA Championships and have advanced to the NCAA Final Four 19 times.
HOME GAMES, PAC-12 CONTESTS
– The Bruins went 14-1 at home last season, winning their final eight games in Pauley Pavilion. UCLA will enter next week’s game versus USC having won their last 16 home contests. Last season, the Bruins’ only loss at home was an 84-81 overtime setback against Oregon (on Thursday, Jan. 13). Since taking over as UCLA’s head coach (fall of 2019), Mick Cronin has led the Bruins to a 46-6 record in all games played in Pauley Pavilion.
– With the COVID-19 pandemic prompting teams to close their arenas to fans, none of UCLA’s home games in 2020-21 were played in front of a crowd. Likewise, three of UCLA’s games in January of 2022 were played before no fans (arena was limited to players’ family members only). Including a seven-game home win streak to close the 2019-20 home schedule, UCLA has won its last 27 home contests with fans in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
– Since the start of the 2020-21 season, UCLA has compiled a 32-11 mark in the Pac-12 (13-6 in 2020-21, and 15-5 last season). The Bruins have won 25 of their last 27 home games in Pac-12 action (the Bruins lost to USC in March of 2021 and to Oregon in overtime last season on Jan. 13, 2022). The Bruins won their final seven home Pac-12 games in 2019-20, during Coach Cronin’s first season as UCLA’s head coach.
– UCLA has gone 8-0 in eight home contests this season (during the regular season). The Bruins have nine home Pac-12 games remaining on the schedule, including Thursday evening’s contest against USC (Jan. 5, at 6:30 p.m., PT). This season, the Bruins will not play Oregon State in Pauley Pavilion (and won’t travel to play at California). UCLA opened its Pac-12 schedule in early December with wins at Stanford (80-66) and at home versus Oregon (65-56).
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