The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews all of the game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of Arizona's showdown with UCLA.Β
Game info
Who: Arizona (19-9, 9-6) at UCLA (18-11, 11-5)Β
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
When: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Follow:Β @TheWildcasterΒ on Twitter /Β TheWildcasterΒ on Facebook
Probable starters: Arizona
G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)
G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)
F Stone Gettings (6-9 senior)
F Ira Lee (6-7 junior)
C Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)
Probable starters: UCLA
G Tyger Campbell (5-11 freshman)
G David Singleton (6-4 sophomore)
F Chris Smith (6-9 junior)
F Jaime Jaquez Jr. (6-6 freshman)
C Jalen Hill (6-10 sophomore)
How they match up
The last time: Arizona had its worst shooting game in the history of McKale Center, hitting just 25.4% from the field in a 65-52 loss to UCLA on Feb. 8. The Wildcats made just 3 of 19 two-pointers in the first half and then missed all 12 3s they took in the second half. Nico Mannion was 2 for 14 overall (1 for 5 from 3-point range) and Josh Green was 3 for 11.
The last time at Pauley Pavilion: Arizona shot just 33.3% from the field and was outrebounded 47-30 in a 90-69 loss at UCLA on Jan. 26, 2019, completing the worst two-game Pac-12 weekend in the Sean Miller era, with UA having earlier lost 80-57 at USC. Brandon Williams led the Wildcats with 19 points while fellow Southern Californian Ira Lee had 11 points and seven rebounds. Moses Brown had 11 points and 15 rebounds for UCLA.
Series history: UCLA has won five of its last nine games against Arizona, but the teams are tied 12-12 in the Sean Miller era. UCLA leads the all-time series 59-45.
Whatβs new with the Bruins: UCLA has won five straight since beating the Wildcats at McKale Center, becoming the seventh team to take a share of the Pac-12 lead this season when it beat ASU on Thursday on a last-second 3 from Jaquez. Having gone 7-6 in nonconference play, then 1-3 to start the Pac-12, the Bruins first bought in to first-year coach Mick Croninβs defense and have developed a more efficient offense over the past few weeks to go with it.
Central to UCLAβs offensive revival is the play of point guard Tyger Campbell, who missed his true freshman season in 2018-19 with a torn ACL and started slowly this season.
Jaquez and Chris Smith are big shooters who can play either forward spot, while freshman Jake Kyman has brought additional shooting off the bench, averaging 16.5 points in his last two games. Inside, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley are skilled, physical big men who can score efficiently around the basket and defend. They helped limit the UAβs Zeke Nnaji to just 2-for-8 shooting on Feb. 8, though Nnaji took 10 free throws. However, guard Prince Ali and forward Alex Olesinski have been reduced to smaller bench roles lately.
He said it
βCampbellβs confidence is through the roof and offensively heβs the catalyst for a lot of what they want to do. His ability to get downhill, get in the paint and make good decisions drives them offensively. And then they have difficult matchups with Chris Smith and Jaime Jaquez. Theyβre able to isolate them on matchups that they feel are in their favor. Then (Thursday) night Jake Kyman comes off the bench and scores at a high rate, able to make 3s and really open up the defense. Theyβve become really hard to guard. In a lot of ways, their offense is driving them because of their efficiency, and theyβre number one in the league in offensive rebounding. They donβt miss much but when they do, they get it back, so theyβre scoring at a high rate.
β(Defensively) theyβll throw the matchup zone at you every once in a while but they trust what theyβre doing defensively in their man (to man defense). Theyβll switch ball screens some. They do a great job of walling up with their bigs β Jalen Hill, Cody Riley, those guys do a great job of not fouling and making it difficult to score twos around the paint. They make it difficult for you to score over the top. β¦ When we have good shots down low, we have to be able to finish them and we have to win the rebounding battle.β
β UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Bruins
Key player (UCLA): Tyger Campbell
The Bruinsβ redshirt freshman point guard outplayed Nico Mannion at McKale Center earlier this month and heβs been mostly on fire since then, with 12 points and five assists against Arizona earlier this month. Heβs totaled of 25 assists and 25 points in his past two games.
Key player (Arizona): Ira Lee
Not only will Lee likely have to start again in a bigger lineup, but he also may have to stretch out to guard Smith or Jaquez when they play the power forward spot. Lee was in a similar spot last season at Pauley, starting in place of the injured Chase Jeter but coming through with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Sidelines
Pauley comes to life
UCLA is expecting at least a near-sellout Saturday at Pauley Pavilion and, this time, it isnβt largely because of locally based UA alums that arrive in four-figure numbers elsewhere around the Pac-12.
The Bruins have ripped off six straight wins to pull into a first-place tie in the loss column with Oregon and ASU, and their fans are following suit.
βIβve never seen UCLA like this since Iβve been here,β ASU coach Bobby Hurley said after UCLA beat ASU 75-72 on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times. βMaybe the Lonzo Ball year (2016-17) in terms of crowd and the energy in the building.β
The Bruins drew 9.626 fans into 13,800-seat Pauley Pavilion on Thursday for ASU, despite an 8 p.m. weeknight tipoff, and had about only 700 seats remaining for the Arizona-UCLA game as of Friday afternoon.
βWe hope for moreβ Saturday, UCLA freshman Jaime Jaquez said. βIt was great. An atmosphere like that is fun. Hopefully, the crowd had fun. I know we had a lot of fun jumping around after the game, hitting shots, everybody going crazy.
βSo hopefully, come out Saturday, please.β
Crosstown buzzer-beaters
Jaquez was actually the biggest part of all that excitement for the Bruins: He hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to beat the Sun Devils on Thursday.
The shot was so big it actually carried more meaning than the preposterously difficult 72-footer that USCβs Onyeka Okongwu hit over at USC β while being tripped by UAβs Dylan Smith β just before the halftime buzzer against Arizona.
While Okongwu shot gave the Trojans momentum and a 26-21 lead entering the second half β βIt was a big oneβ¦ we had held them to 23 points,β UA coach Sean Miller said β Jaquezβ shot won the game and knocked the Sun Devils down from sole possession of first place into a tie, the latest accomplishment in UCLAβs remarkable revival over the past five weeks.
βIt feels great right now,β Jaquez said. βWe believed from the start that this could happen β¦ even when we were losing games. This is what weβve worked for β playing for first-place games, trying to get a shot into the (NCAA) Tournament, and just doing big things like this.β
Jaquez had made that kind of shot before ... but only in his childhood fantasies. βI used to go to the park just by myself and just run up and down the court, counting down from 3-2-1, hitting big shots like that,β Jaquez said. βItβs something that every kid dreams about. To do it tonight, it was amazing. It was an unreal feeling.β
Okwongu, meanwhile, said he had been working on ultra-long-distance shots with USCβs graduate assistants and, after he saw Nico Mannion miss, decided to go for it.
He arguably could have received an and-one out of it, too, with Smith cutting in front of Okongwu and appearing to knock him down as he shot it.
βI just took a chance,β Okongwu said. βGot fouled. No call, but it still went in anyways.β
Sharing the love
While explaining the Bruinsβ rise during a 30-minute interview on an βInside the Pac-12β podcast earlier this week, UCLA coach Mick Cronin noted how life is pretty swell all of a sudden.
βItβs good to be on a roll,β he said. βWeβd rather win than lose. Itβs amazing, too β your friendship base goes way up when youβre winning.β
Cronin said UCLAβs turnaround was basically a matter of taking players who wanted to win but needed first to gain the experience and toughness needed to do so, learning through mistakes and resisting opponentsβ efforts to impose their will.
Ultimately, he indicated, it was the players who made it happen.
βI give the kids a lot of credit,β Cronin said, βbecause in this day and age thereβs a lot more people who pack it in than dig in and fight and turn your season around.β
Numbers game
1.58
Nico Mannionβs assist-turnover ratio in Pac-12 games, fourth-best in the conference
3.14
Tyger Campbellβs assist-turnover ratio in Pac-12 games, best in the conference.
31.4
Arizonaβs offensive rebounding percentage in Pac-12 games, the second-highest in the conference.
34.0
UCLAβs offensive rebounding percentage in Pac-12 games, the highest in the conference.
46.3
Arizonaβs two-point shooting percentage in Pac-12 games, the third-worst in the conference.
49.0
UCLAβs two-point percentage in Pac-12 games, fourth best in the conference.