UCLA Travels to Arizona for Showdown on ESPN2

UCLA Travels to Arizona for Showdown on ESPN2

The Bruins lead the all-time series with Arizona 47-34 and are 14-20 all-time at Arizona.

from The Official UCLA Men's Basketball website
Jan. 25, 2011

LOS ANGELES -

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE: Jan. 27, 2011
SITE: McKale Center (14,545)
TIP-OFF: 6:05 p.m. (PT)/7:05 p.m. (MT)
TV: ESPN2 and ESPN3.com
TALENT: Rece Davis (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst)
RADIO (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570 KLAC
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: 121
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO: 141
TALENT: Chris Roberts (play-by-play) and Tracy Murray (analyst)
SERIES: UCLA leads 47-34


IN THE POLLS
UCLA is unranked in the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (Jan. 24) and didn't receive any votes in either poll. The Arizona Wildcats (16-4, 5-2) are unranked in both polls, but sit 27th in the AP Poll with 68 votes and 27th in the Coaches Poll with 52 votes.

SERIES VS. ARIZONA
This is the 82nd meeting between UCLA and Arizona with the Bruins leading the series 47-34 (.580). UCLA is 14-20 (.412) all-time in games at Arizona and has won three of the last five in Tucson, Ariz. The Bruins lost last year's matchup 78-73 in the McKale Center on Mar. 4, 2010. The Bruins led 39-29 at halftime, but allowed the Wildcats to shoot 63.6 percent from the field in the second half while shooting just 33.3 percent. Michael Roll led the Bruins with 21 points and Nikola Dragoviæ added 19 points. Malcolm Lee chipped in 13 points while Tyler Honeycutt had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Kyle Fogg led the Wildcats with a game-high 26 points. Lamont Jones had 16 points while Nic Wise added 12 points and seven assists. Derrick Williams had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Wildcats swept the regular season series with a 77-63 win in Los Angeles. The Bruins, however, posted a 75-69 win over Arizona in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Pacific-10 Tournament. Head Coach Ben Howland is 9-8 all-time against Arizona.

BRUINS' INJURY REPORT
Freshman center Joshua Smith hit his head on the floor after attempting to take a charge in the first half against California (Jan. 20) and has a head injury. He is being monitored daily and is listed as day-to-day.Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson sprained his left ankle late in the game in the win over Stanford (Jan. 22). He was able to finish the game and is also listed as day-to-day. Both Smith and Nelson practiced on Tuesday, Jan. 25 in a limited capacity.

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Arizona's Williams a huge challenge for Bruins

Published: Jan. 26, 2011
Updated: 10:25 p.m.
By SCOTT M. REID
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Arizona sophomore forward Derrick Williams has pretty much seen it all this season.

"Every team has their strategy to defend him," Wildcats coach Sean Miller said.

Washington went 50/50 zone, man-to-man. Washington State went straight zone. Arizona State pretty much threw everybody at Williams.

"It was different they had five different guys," Williams told reporters. "It worked the first five minutes."

The problem for the Sun Devils was the remaining 35. Williams finished with a career-high equaling 31 points in a 80-69 Arizona victory Jan. 15.

Not that the Sun Devils are alone in failing to contain Williams.

So imagine UCLA coach Ben Howland's dilemma this week when he prepared for the Bruins showdown with Arizona at the McKale Center tonight.

"It's not an easy thing to combat," Howland said.

Williams has already been named Pac-10 Player of the Week twice this season, but he might not just be the hottest player on the West Coast but the entire nation.

"When Derrick has the ball, good things start to happen," Miller said. "In the first five conference games, he has been instrumental."

Instrumental? How about overwhelming?

Williams is coming off three consecutive double-doubles and is averaging a nation leading 2.15 points per field goal attempt. He is fourth in the country in points per minute and is leading the Pac-10 in field goal percentage at an outstanding 62.3 percent.

Williams had 19 rebounds in Arizona's 65-63 victory at Washington State last Saturday, nine of them coming on the offensive glass, three more offensive boards than the Cougars has as a team.

But what Williams does better than anything—or anyone—is get to the foul line. So far this season he has shot 194 free throws, the most in the nation, 24 more than any other player.

"I've always done that," Williams said. "Fifteen, sixteen free throws is nothing to me."

Or 19 or 20.

"He's big, strong, athletic and great at drawing contact," UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt said. "There's been some games where he's shot almost 20 free throws."

Williams actually went to the line 22 times in Arizona's 73-71 victory against Cal on Jan. 6, sinking 16 of those foul shots on the way to his first 31-point night.

"It felt like Derrick said 'get on my back,'" Miller said. "To have 22 free-throw attempts, 12 field-goal attempts. His great individual performance willed us to win."