The young Bruins hope to break the "Saturday Game Curse" as they host the equally young (perhaps even younger) Washington State Cougars.
The Cougs have a first year coach in Ken Bone (formerly from Portland State), who took the reins at WSU this season following the departure of Tony Bennett to Virginia. Coach Bone leads a team with only one senior, the rest being froshs and sophs. The lone senior, like UCLA's own senior Drago, is from Belgrade, 6-6 guard Nikola Koprivica.
The Cougs currently sit in third place in the Pac-10 standings trailing league-leading Arizona State and runner-up Cal. The Cougs (14-5, 4-3) seek to sweep the Los Angeles schools on this trip to So Cal. WSU came from behind to beat USC 67-60 last Thursday and hopes to do the same to the Bruins.
Coug sophomore 6-6 guard Klay Thompson leads the team and conference and ranks fifth in the nation with 22.8 points per game.
As for UCLA, Bobo is still out and Jerime is still a game-time decision. Get well soon, guys.
Tyler Honeycutt hopes to follow up his potential breakout game last Thursday against the Huskies (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block) with another monster game today.
And Coach Ben Howland continues to implement the erstwhile foreign 2-3 zone defense to get back that old "UCLA on defense" swagger.
UCLA Concludes 3-Game Homestand With Washington State at 1:07 p.m.
The Bruins lead the all-time series 95-14 (.872) and is 51-2 (.962) against the Cougars in Los Angeles, having won 31 of the last 33 overall meetings.
harking from The Official UCLA Men's Basketball website
Jan. 22, 2010
LOS ANGELES -
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE: Thursday, Jan. 23, 2010
SITE: Pauley Pavilion (12,819)
TIP-OFF: 1:07 p.m. (PT)
TELEVISION: FSN and Prime Ticket
TALENT: Barry Tompkins (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst) and Michael Eaves (sideline)
RADIO: AM 570 KLAC
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: Channel 127
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO: Channel 102
TALENT: Chris Roberts (play-by-play) and Tracy Murray (analyst)
BRUIN INJURY REPORT
Sophomore J'mison Morgan sustained a partially torn (second degree strain) quadriceps in his right leg in practice on Jan. 12, 2010. He is slated to be out for 1-2 more weeks and will miss the Bruins' games this week. Sophomore Jerime Anderson has a hip flexor and has missed practice this week and missed the game against Washington (Jan. 21) and will be a game-time decision for the Washington State contest.
SERIES VERSUS WASHINGTON STATE
This is the 110th meeting between UCLA and Washington State with the Bruins leading the series 95-14 (.872). UCLA is 51-2 (.962) against the Cougars in Los Angeles and has won 31 of the last 33 overall meetings. The Cougars won last year's meeting in Pauley Pavilion 82-81 on Feb. 21, 2009 on the strength of Taylor Rochestie's career-high 33 points. Klay Thompson added 15 points while Aron Baynes chipped in 13 points and Caleb Forrest scored 12 points for the Cougars, which upset then 20th-ranked UCLA. Nikola Dragovic led UCLA with 23 points and Darren Collison poured in 20 more. Josh Shipp registered 14 points for the Bruins while Alfred Aboya had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland is 11-2 against Washingon State.
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...and now, let's hear from the opponent. How come the opposing team always have so much more to say than UCLA on their website prior to each game?!?
Cougars Battle Bruins Saturday
WSU heads into Pauley Pavilion with a two-game win streak.
from The Official WSU Cougars Men's Basketball website
Jan. 22, 2010
COUGS LOOK FOR FIRST PAC-10 WEEKEND SWEEP: Fresh of its come-from-behind victory at USC Thursday, Washington State men's basketball (14-5, 4-3) takes on UCLA (8-10, 3-3), Saturday, Jan. 23 at Pauley Pavilion. The game tips at 1 p.m. and can be seen nationally on Fox Sports Net.
Game 20 | Washington State (14-5, 4-3) at UCLA (8-10, 3-3)
Date Saturday, Jan. 23 | 1 p.m. PST
Location Los Angeles, Calif. | Pauley Pavilion
Tickets Buy Here
Television Fox Sports Net
Radio Cougar Sports Network | Listen Online
wsucougars.com Gametracker | Crimson ZZU Blog | Game Notes
All-Time Series UCLA leads 95-14
ABOUT THE COUGS:
• Washington State came back after trailing USC by 10 at halftime at Los Angeles Thursday for the 67-60 victory.
• The Cougars are now 14-5 on the season and 4-3 in Pacific-10 Conference action, sitting in sole possession of third place in the league standings...WSU is tied with Arizona State for the most overall wins by a Pac-10 school.
• The Cougars split each of their first three Pac-10 weekends.
• WSU is 3-3 on the road this season and 2-1 on the road in Pac-10 play...the Cougs are 3-0 in neutral site games.
• Sophomore Klay Thompson leads the team and conference and ranks fifth in the nation with 22.8 points per game...he's scored double figures in 17 of the Cougs' 19 games this season and reached 20-plus points in 13 of the 19 contests.
• Freshman point guard Reggie Moore leads the team with 4.6 assists a game, adding a team second-best 13.8 points an outing...he's averaging 16.0 points per game in Pac-10 play this season.
• Sophomore DeAngelo Casto leads the Cougs on the boards with 7.3 rebounds a game, adding 10.1 points per game.
ABOUT THE UCLA BRUINS:
• Under seventh-year head coach Ben Howland, UCLA holds a 8-10 overall record and 3-3 Pac-10 mark.
• UCLA used a last-second shot to defeat Washington, 62-61, Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.
• The Bruins are tied with three other teams for fourth in the league.
• The Bruins are 7-4 at home and 2-2 at home in Pac-10 action.
• Sophomore guard Malcom Lee leads the team with 13.7 points per game, adding 4.4 rebounds a game.
• Senior Michael Roll is right behind Lee with 13.1 points, shooting .424 from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Two other Bruins are adding double figures...senior Nikola Dragovic and freshman Reeves Nelson are adding 10.6 and 10.5 points per game, respectively.
AGAINST THE BRUINS:
• The Cougars trail the all-time series 14-95 against UCLA and are just 2-50 against the Bruins at UCLA.
• WSU has won two of the last six meetings with UCLA at Pauley Pavilion with a victory Feb. 5, 2004 and last season, Feb. 21, 2009.
• The Cougars have defeated the Bruins in back-to-back seasons just once, 1936-37 and 1937-38.
• The last time WSU swept the weekend series at USC and UCLA was in 2003-04 when it defeated USC 60-51, Feb. 7, fresh off the 55-48 defeat of UCLA Feb. 5.
• Last season WSU and UCLA split the regular season series, each winning on the road...the Bruins knocked the Cougs out of the Pac-10 tournament with a 64-53 victory at Staples Center March 12.
• In the first meeting a last-second jumper for the Cougs didn't fall as the Bruins held on for a 61-59 victory at Pullman's Friel Court, Jan. 22 of last season.
• Caleb Forrest scored a career-high 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field.
• Aron Baynes recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
• In the second meeting, Taylor Rochestie scored a career-high 33 points to lift WSU over UCLA, 82-81, Feb. 21 at Pauley Pavilion.
• Klay Thompson added 15 points (all in the first half) and Aron Baynes and Caleb Forrest chipped in 13 and 12 points respectively.
• In the Pac-10 Tournament, UCLA took charge from the beginning for the 64-53 victory in the Pac-10 Tournament, ousting the Cougs from the quarterfinals.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE COUGS:
• The Cougars overcame a 10-point halftime deficit as they defeated USC, 67-60, Thursday at the Galen Center.
• Reggie Moore led WSU with 21 points...scored 20 or more points for the third time in the last five games.
• Hometown kid Klay Thompson added 20 points on the night, along with six rebounds and an assist.
• Nikola Koprivica finished with 13 points on 3-for-4 shooting (all from 3-point range)...all three of his points came in the second half.
• Koprivica has made at least one 3-pointer in each of WSU's last nine games.
• WSU's 24 points marked its fewest in a first half this season.
• Thompson and Moore combined for 21 of WSU's 24 first-half points....Thompson scored 11 of the first 14 WSU points.
• Thompson and Moore had 41 of WSUs 67 total points.
• The Cougars came back after a halftime deficit for just the second time this season...the other was two points to Nicholls State.
• Thompson scored 11 points in the first half...has now scored double figures in 25 of WSU's 38 halves this season
• DeAngelo Casto blocked a career high five shots on the night.
MOORE OUT OF REGGIE:
• The Pac-10's lone starting freshman point guard, Reggie Moore has gotten off to a hot start for the Cougars in his rookie campaign, ranking second on the team with 13.8 points per game.
• Not only is he second in scoring, but he leads the team in assists with 4.6 dishes per game.
• At Kansas State, Dec. 5, Moore set a WSU freshman record with 12 free throws made.
• Against Air Force Dec. 12 in Spokane, Moore had the first double-double of his young career...he had a career high 10 assists, the second-most single game assists by a Cougar freshman.
• Moore bettered that in his next game with 12 assists, marking the second-most single game assists by a Cougar freshman as he now has the second and third best performances.
• Moore leads all Pac-10 freshmen in assists, assists/turnover ratio and free throw percentage and ranks second among freshmen in scoring.
• He is currently on pace for the WSU freshman record for assists which is 114 set by Bennie Seltzer in 1990.
• If the season ended today, Moore would capture the freshman record for assists average and would finish second in scoring average.
KOPRIVICA AMONG WINNINGEST COUGARS:
• Senior Nikola Koprivica has been a part of WSU men's basketball teams that have combined for 83 wins (2007-present).
• With 83 wins to his name, Koprivica ranks for second most wins by an individual student-athlete in WSU history.
• The number of wins does not include wins during a student-athlete's redshirt year, and the player doesn't have to have played in all of the games during the season.
• Below is a list of the top-five winningest players in WSU history:
1. George Hamilton (1945, 1947-49), 86
2. Nikola Koprivica (2007-10), 83
3. Ed Gayda (1947-50), 82
4. Daven Harmeling (2005, 2007-09), 81
5. Aaron Baynes (2006-09), 80
Caleb Forrest (2006-09), 80
COUGARS AMONG WINNINGEST TEAMS IN PAC-10:
• Over the last four seasons (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10) the Cougars have the second-most overall and conference wins among Pac-10 schools.
• WSU is 83-38 (.686) overall and 36-25 in conference play over the last three years and this season.
• UCLA has the best three-year record at 99-29 (.773) overall and 47-13 in league play.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:
• Just 19 games into this season, sophomore Klay Thompson has already matched his point total from the 33 games of his freshman season.
• Thompson scored 414 as a freshman, averaging 12.5 points a game...he currently has 433 points this season, averaging 22.8.
• He's shot over four times more free throws this year than the entire last season...he's shot 132 as a sophomore, compared to just 31 as a freshman.
• Nikola Koprivica's stats have gone up this season as well, as his 167 points are just 21 points shy of his total from his sophomore and junior seasons combined (188).
• With 25 trey's on the season, he's just one 3-pointer shy this season of equaling his total number of 3-pointers made from his first three seasons (26).
• The biggest spike may be in Koprivica's field goal percentage as he's shooting .581 compared to .388 his first three seasons and .510 from 3-point range compared to .236 his first three seasons.
BACK-TO-BACK STELLAR STARTS FOR WSU COACHES:
• First-year Cougar head coach Ken Bone got his team off to a 6-0 start, making him the second-straight WSU coach to start 6-0 in his rookie campaign.
• Bone's 6-0 mark ranks as the fifth-best start by a Pacific-10 Conference coach in his debut in the post-World War II era.
• It ties as the 18th-best start by a head coach at a current Pac-10 institution.
• Four seasons ago, Tony Bennett got off to a 7-0 start for the Cougars, which ties for the 13th-best start by a Pac-10 coach.
• In 2006-07 Bennett and the Cougar reached 14-2 before losing their third game of the season January 13 at Stanford.
THOMPSON MAKES ALASKA HIS `KLAY'GROUND:
• Klay Thompson had the week of his young career at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Nov. 25-28.
• Thompson broke the Great Alaska Shootout single-game and championship game records with 43 points in WSU's win over San Diego...the old record was set by Glenn Robinson of Purdue also in the championship game against Portland in 1993.
• His 16 field goals mark a championship game record, besting Robinson's mark of 15 in 1993.
• Thompson also set championship game records for field goals made (16), 3-pointers made (eight) and 3-pointers attempted (13).
• His 89 total points were tied for second most in the tournament with Casey Green of Southwest Louisiana (1997).
• Thompson's 14 3-pointers stand at fifth best all-time in the Great Alaska Shootout.
• He was named the Carrs/Safeway Player of the Game in all three WSU games.
• He earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
• He led the tournament in points, scoring average, 3-point field goals made, 3-point field goals attempted and free throws, and was ranked in the top five in assists, steals, blocks and minutes played.
COUGARS DOMINATE SHOOTOUT AS WELL:
• The Cougars not only won the Great Alaska Shootout title, but they also notched their names in the record books along the way.
• WSU's .575 field goal percentage in its three games is the third-best in Shootout history and just .011 behind the record.
• The Cougs' .511 3-point field goal percentage is the fifth-best 3-point shooting performance all time.
• They set the championship game record for largest margin of victory with a 37-point defeat (93-56) of San Diego...the old record was 29 (76-47) points as San Diego State defeated Hampton last season.
• WSU tied the tournament championship game record for most second half points with 54, held by Illinois vs. New Mexico State in 1992 and Iowa vs. Northeastern in 1986.
• WSU led the tournament in scoring offense (86.0 ppg), scoring defense (64.3 papg), field goal percentage (.575), field goal percentage defense (.391), 3-point field goal percentage (.511), blocked shots (4.7 bpg) and assists (19.0 apg).
• To put it in perspective, there have been 381 Shootout games over 32 years.
THOMPSON JOINS FONTAINE IN 20-PLUS POINT GAMES:
• Klay Thompson scored 20-plus points in Washington State's first six games this season.
• It marks the most consecutive 20-plus point performances by a Cougar since the school's all-time leading scorer, Isaac Fontaine, scored 20-plus in six-straight games Dec. 7-29, 1996.
• Thompson became the fifth Cougar to notch six-consecutive 20-point games, joining Jim Meredith (Dec. 11-26, 1970), Don Collins (Feb. 24-Dec. 5, 1970), Joe Wallace (Dec. 20, 1984-Jan. 5, 1985) and Fontaine.
• He's now reached 20-plus points in 13 of WSU's 19 games.
• He's also reached double figures in 25 of WSU's 38 halves this season and in 17 of the team's 19 games.
THOMPSON EARNS BACK-TO-BACK PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS:
• Klay Thompson was named the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the week for the weeks of Nov. 16-22 and Nov. 23-29.
• He is just the third Cougar to earn a Pac-10 Player of the Week award twice in the same season as Daven Harmeling did so in 2006-07 and Joe Wallace accomplished the feat in 1985-87.
• He's just the second Cougar to earn the honor over the last three seasons.
• He became the 17th men's basketball player student-athlete to earn back-to-back Player of the Week honors, as Patrick Christopher of California and James Harden, formerly of Arizona State, accomplished it last season.
• Thompson joins elite company, as he became the 13th sophomore to earn multiple Player of the Week awards.
• James Harden, Ryan Anderson, Darren Collison, Daven Harmeling, Gilbert Arenas, Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, Harold Miner, Chris Mills, Adam Keefe, Gary Payton and Reggie Miller also accomplished that feat in their sophomore campaigns.
THE PAC-10 40 POINT CLUB:• With his 43 points against San Diego (Nov. 28), Klay Thompson became just the third Pac-10 player to score 40 points in the last five seasons...James Harden of ASU scored 40 in 2008-09 and Leon Powe of California scored 41 in 2005-06.
• It's the most points scored by a Pac-10 player since Jason Kapono of UCLA scored 44 against WSU, Jan. 4, 2003.
SOUTHPAW STRONG:
• For the second-straight season, WSU has five left-handed shooters on its team in 2009-10.
• Anthony Brown, Marcus Capers, Nikola Koprivica, Abe Lodwick and Brock Motum are all left-handed on the basketball court.
• Last season WSU also had five lefties on the team with Taylor Rochestie and Nick Witherill.
__________
UCLA becoming more comfortable in the zone
The Bruins held Washington to eight-for-27 shooting in the second half of a 62-61 victory Thursday night, and their defense will be tested again today against Washington State.
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
January 23, 2010
UCLA seems to be getting the hang of this zone defense thing, noticeably absent during Coach Ben Howland's first four seasons in Westwood.
The Bruins clamped down on Washington in the second half in Thursday night's 62-61 victory. The Huskies, who shot 58% in the first half, made only eight of 27 shots in the second half.
"They came out and shot the lights out in the first half," Howland said. "Fortunately, we did a little better job in the second half."
The Bruins newfound defensive identity will get another test today, when Washington State comes to Pauley Pavilion for a 1 p.m. game.
The Cougars shoot a shade over 48% from the field, ranking them 27th nationally. Their offensive style under first-year Coach Ken Bones is radically different from the pass-and-pick style that was on display in Pullman the last few seasons.
Washington State averages 77 points per game after averaging 59 per game last season.
"They have outstanding shooters," said Howland, who added that the Cougars can create matchup problems when 6-foot-6 Nikola Koprivica comes off the bench.
"When he's in, they essentially have four guards out there," Howland said. "They all can shoot."
The Bruins haven't exactly smothered teams this season. They rank 264th nationally, allowing teams to shoot 44% per game.
Still, the Bruins showed an ability to take a team out of its offensive scheme against Washington, at least in the second half. UCLA extended its zone to challenge shots.
It has not been the in-your-face man-to-man Howland's teams have shown in the past, but the Bruins were aggressive.
"I think for certain matchups and certain teams, in this league, it is probably the best defense to play for us to be competitive and have a chance to win," Howland said.
Anderson out
Guard Jerime Anderson is not expected to play against Washington State, as he is still nursing a hip flexor injury. Anderson's health problems are related -- and ongoing, according to Howland.
"It's not anything that surgery can fix," Howland said. "It's in the left groin area. He's had problems there and the other muscles start compensating. It's almost chronic. We've had 47 practices this season and he's been in 32. He has not been at his best because he hasn't stayed healthy."
Anderson's absence has meant more time for Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, who saved the Bruins on Thursday night with a game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
Abdul-Hamid played 13 minutes, the most since playing 17 minutes in a 100-68 rout over New Mexico State last weekend.
"We want to play guys who care, and no one loves this program like he does," Howland said. "He will definitely get more opportunities."
A half Nelson
Freshman Nelson Reeves had a game-high 16 points and picked up six rebounds against Washington, a performance that was even more impressive considering how badly he had the flu.
"When we came in after the game, I started talking to the team and someone pointed out that Reeves was in the bathroom throwing up," Howland said.
D-fence
James Keefe, a 6-foot-8 senior, was inserted into the starting lineup against Washington, as Howland said, "we wanted to get a better start defensively."
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