The Star's Bruce Pascoe breaks down the starting lineups, storylines and stats as the No. 7-ranked Arizona Wildcats host No. 3-ranked UCLA Bruins.
What: No. 3 UCLA (16-2, 8-1) at No. 7 Arizona (17-2, 7-1)
Where: McKale Center
When: 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: 1290-AM
Social media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook
Arizona Wildcats center Christian Koloko (35), left, guard Kerr Kriisa (25) and guard Dalen Terry (4) converge on Arizona State Sun Devils forward Jalen Graham (2) to deny his shot in the first half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 29, 2022.
Probable starters: Arizona
G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 sophomore)
G Dalen Terry (6-6 sophomore)
F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 sophomore)
F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 sophomore)
C Christian Koloko (7-0 junior)
Probable starters: UCLA
G Tyger Campbell (5-11 junior)
G Johnny Juzang (6-7 junior)
F Jules Bernard (6-7 junior)
F Jaime Jaquez (6-7 junior)
C Cody Riley (6-9 senior)
How they match up
The last time: The Bruins held Arizona to season-low 30.7% shooting while UCLA shot 50% from the field in a 75-59 Arizona loss on Jan. 25 at Pauley Pavilion. Bennedict Mathurin collected 16 points and 10 rebounds but was 5 of 22 from the field while point guard Kerr Kriisa (0 for 12) and Dalen Terry (0 for 5) went scoreless. Jules Bernard and Johnny Juzang each had 15 points to lead the Bruins in scoring.
The last time at McKale Center: Arizona allowed UCLA to shoot 49% from the field and committed 25 fouls that put the Bruins at the line 32 times while losing 81-76 on Jan. 9, 2021. UCLA made 27 of 32 free throws, scoring 15 points more than Arizona at the line, with guard Tyger Campbell making all eight he took. Campbell led the Bruins with 22 points while James Akinjo led the Wildcats with 25 points and eight assists.
Series history: Arizona has lost six in a row to UCLA and the last four straight the teams have played at McKale Center, last beating the Bruins at McKale in 2015-16, when UA graduate assistant Ryan Anderson had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats’ starting power forward. UCLA leads Arizona 63-45 in the all-time series.
What’s new with the Bruins: Despite losing leading scorer Johnny Juzang to a positive COVID-19 test after the UA-UCLA game, the Bruins still blitzed through both Cal and Stanford at home last weekend. They held the Golden Bears to 28.6% shooting from 3 in an 81-57 win, and beat Stanford 66-43 while holding the Cardinal to just 3 of 20 shooting from 3-point range and 27.1% overall. Stanford also had 22 turnovers.
UCLA also lost Jaquez to an ankle injury after he played seven minutes against Stanford, while its top defender, Jaylen Clark, continues to sit out because of concussion protocol. UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Clark will not play against Arizona and that he was not sure if Jaquez would. Juzang was cleared to return after testing negative on Tuesday.
UCLA had five players score in double figures against Cal, with Jaquez shooting 7 for 12 from the field to collect 15 points, while Jules Bernard led the Bruins against Stanford with 16 points and nine rebounds.
UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (24) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, in Boulder, Colo. UCLA won 71-65. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
He said it: The absences of Clark and Jaquez last week “just shows how deep they are. They have guys that have played well in the past against us and you have to be prepared for everyone. They have they have a deep roster of talented guys and a lot of their guys on the bench have experience.
“They turned (Stanford) over. They had great pressure and their pressure can really suffocate you at times and make it difficult to run your offense. That’s something you have to be prepared for.
“Every time that I've coached against coach (Mick) Cronin and UCLA, they've done very similar things in all five games. I assume that's not going to change for game number six.
"It's as simple as they want to take advantage of what their strengths are and neutralize what we feel our strengths are and obviously, they're really skilled on the perimeter.
"A huge factor in the first game was Cody Riley. He didn't get a ton of touches down low, but he was very, very efficient in the touches he did get.
"We have to play better. We have to be as aggressive and play with like the same speed and pace that we've done in 90% of our games all year long.”
— UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Bruins.
Key player (UCLA): Tyger Campbell
UCLA guard Tyger Campbell, left, celebrates with teammate after being taken out of the game in the closing seconds of the Bruins’ win over Arizona.
Jeer him at your own risk. The Bruins' point guard probably won't mind. In four career games against the Wildcats, Campbell is averaging 14.0 points on 61% shooting with 3.3 assists. He scored 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting at McKale as a freshman in 2019-20 before fans and collected 22 points at UA last season.
Key player (Arizona): Kerr Kriisa
UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Kriisa missed at UCLA some of the same sort of open shots he hit at Illinois and Tennessee. Maybe that changes Thursday. Kriisa is shooting 20.6% from 3-point range over his past five games.
Sidelines
Back-loaded
Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd directs his team through a transition against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the second half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 29, 2022.
In one sense, the Wildcats are tied for last place in the Pac-12 standings.
Only Arizona (7-1) and Oregon State (1-7) have played as few as eight conference games entering the week, with others having played up to 12, and that math is not lost on UA coach Tommy Lloyd.
“I thought, 'OK, well, if we’re all going to play an equal number of games, that means we're probably going to play more games than anybody down the stretch,'" Lloyd said. “I don't know if that's the best thing for Arizona basketball or the quality of play. But it's what we're doing so we're not gonna overthink it. We're just going to try to show up and hopefully defy the odds in some of those third games.”
Arizona already had a three-game road trip that ended with a loss at UCLA on Jan. 25, while it will play at Arizona State, Washington State and Washington next week — and still has a postponed game at USC to make up at an undetermined date.
Lloyd said there have been some discussions around the league about whether it’s worth still trying to have teams all play 20-game schedules but the league has said it still intends to have every postponed game made up.
"I think it's been clear that I don't think the coaches are getting the first vote and that's probably rightfully so," Lloyd said. "Because I think we all know coaches are gonna tend to what they think is best for their program individually as opposed to probably the whole group."
UA will most likely have to play its game at USC either before heading to Utah on Feb. 24 or after playing Colorado on Feb. 26. Asked what he would prefer, Lloyd smiled.
"My choice is I got UCLA on Thursday, USC Saturday at Arizona State Monday," Lloyd said. "That's all I'm focused on right now. When they tell me when we play 'SC… I mean, obviously I've had conversations with them and whether I agreed on the days or didn't agree on the dates, I figured out that it really didn't matter. So from now on, I have no opinion.”
Bruins test weekly
UCLA forward Cody Riley, left, and guard Peyton Watson, center, embrace while Arizona guard Adama Bal walks away during the final moments of their Jan. 25 win over the Wildcats in Pauley Pavilion. The teams will play again Thursday night.
While UA and many Pac-12 teams only have to test vaccinated players if they are symptomatic, UCLA has to deal with an increased level of testing under campus policy.
According to the school's COVID-19 protocol website, UCLA staffers, faculty and students on campus must test at least once a week, getting up to two free self-administering PCR tests a week from vending machines and distribution centers around campus. They are then to deposit the samples in collection bins, and results are delivered between 24-48 hours.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin said the Bruins’ leading scorer, Johnny Juzang, was positive on a random test taken last week despite Juzang being asymptomatic.
“I love being at UCLA and with that goes whatever the rules are here,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said, when asked about the Bruins’ COVID protocols.
Tough questions
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin disputes a call against the Bruins that sent Arizona to the line for three free throws in the second half of their Pac 12 basketball game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 9, 2021.
During a Zoom media conference Tuesday, Cronin was asked if he had any thoughts on the Louisville opening now that Chris Mack departed, since his name had been mentioned. Before returning to his hometown for a 13-year stint as Cincinnati’s head coach, Cronin spent two years as a Louisville assistant under Rick Pitino.
"It would be wildly inappropriate for me to comment on it," Cronin said. "But you can ask me about my job anytime you want."
Cronin appeared to have more trouble answering the next question: Whether he’s rooting for either Cincinnati or Los Angeles in the Super Bowl.
"That’s a tough one, brother," Cronin said. "I’m an L.A. guy now but you gotta understand, I’m really happy for the people who root for the Bengals. When you grow up there — I think I gave up around ’97 — you can only take so much pain. So it’s amazing.”
Numbers game
0 – UCLA losses in five true road games this season (at UNLV, Marquette, Cal, Utah and Colorado).
10 – Times that Arizona and UCLA will have met when both teams are ranked in the AP Top 10 after Thursday.
32 – Of 34 first-place votes in the Pac-12 official preseason poll that were given to UCLA (Oregon received the other two).
