Sunday, March 23, 2014

UCLA Basketball Set to Face Stephen F. Austin on Sunday


Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
Release: Saturday 03/22/2014
Article Link
LOS ANGELES – No. 4-seed UCLA (27-8) will play No. 12-seed Stephen F. Austin (32-2) in a third-round meeting of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region this Sunday at Viejas Arena in San Diego (TV: TBS). The Bruins defeated Tulsa, 76-59, in the second round of the tournament on Friday night.Jordan Adams led UCLA with 21 points and eight rebounds in the win. UCLA is seeking its first appearance in the “Sweet 16” since 2008 with a victory over Stephen F. Austin this Sunday.
SUNDAY’S GAME IN SAN DIEGO
Venue: Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl (11,564)
Game Time: 4:10 pm (PT)
TV Station: TBS
TV Talents: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Mike Gminski (analyst), Otis Livingston (sideline)
Radio: AM 570 (KLAC)
Radio Talent: Chris Roberts (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
AGAINST THE LUMBERJACKS
UCLA has gone 1-0 in the all-time series against Stephen F. Austin. The Bruins won the only previous meeting between the two programs, securing a 109-88 victory on Dec. 18, 1995. Toby Bailey finished that game with his only career triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). Stephen F. Austin defeated VCU in overtime, 77-75, on Friday evening to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
ROUND OF 32
- UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 for the first time since 2011. Since the inception of this tournament featuring a “Round of 64” in 1985, UCLA has gone 17-6 in its opening games. UCLA is seeking its first “Sweet 16” appearance since 2008, when the Bruins advanced to the Final Four for the third straight season.
- The Bruins advanced to a third round NCAA Tournament matchup by defeating Tulsa, 76-59, before 11,488 at Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl on Friday evening. Jordan Adams led the Bruins with 21 points and eight rebounds, whileNorman Powell totaled 15 points, four rebounds and three steals. UCLA led 59-54 with 4:54 to play in regulation and closed the game on a 17-5 scoring run to advance to a Sunday evening meeting against Stephen F. Austin.
- UCLA’s 17-point win on Friday against Tulsa marked the Bruins’ largest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament since defeating No. 3-seed Xavier by 19 points (76-57) in the 2008 West Regional final in Phoenix (March 29, 2008). UCLA’s 79 points scored against Tulsa marked the Bruins’ highest point total in the NCAA Tournament since March 27, 2008, when UCLA took down Western Kentucky, 88-78, in the Sweet 16.
UPDATED NOTES
- UCLA is making its 46th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, having earned its highest tournament seed (No. 4) since entering the 2008 field as the No. 1 seed in the West Region ... the Bruins are one of six Pac-12 Conference programs in the 68-team field (joining Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon and Stanford).
- The Bruins secured the Pac-12 Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning its fourth Pac-12 Tournament title in the 17-year history of the tournament ... UCLA defeated Arizona, 75-71, in the title game ... Jordan Adams nailed a tie-breaking three-pointer to give UCLA a 71-68 cushion with 45 seconds to play.
- Under the leadership of head coach Steve Alford, in his first season at UCLA, the Bruins have gone 27-8 overall, recording their highest single-season win total since going 35-4 in 2007-08 ... last week, UCLA won its three games in the Pac-12 Tournament by an average of 16.0 points per game, averaging 80.3 points per contest.
- UCLA finished its regular season schedule with a second-place finish in the competitive Pac-12 Conference standings (12-6 Pac-12 record), trailing first-place Arizona (15-3 Pac-12) by three games.
- The Bruins have won at least 20 games in 48 seasons, including 31 times in the last 39 years (since John Wooden retired in 1975) ... UCLA has won at least 27 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2007-08.
Kyle Anderson has averaged closer to a triple-double than any other player in the nation ... the Bruins’ sophomore 6-foot-9 point guard enters the third round averaging 14.7 points per game, leading the team in rebounds per game (8.8) and the conference in assists per game (6.6) ... he has registered a Pac-12-best 16 double-doubles.
- Under Coach Alford’s direction, UCLA has averaged its highest offensive output (81.7 ppg) since the Bruins averaged 83.1 points per game in 1997-98 ... in his 23rd season as a college head coach, Alford has guided his teams to at least 22 wins in each of the last seven seasons (includes his six seasons as New Mexico’s head coach).
Jordan Adams leads UCLA in scoring (17.4 ppg) and ranks seventh in that category in the Pac-12 ... Adams scored a career-high 31 points at Washington (March 6) to pass the 1,000 career point mark ... he also leads all Pac-12 players with 92 steals, the UCLA single-season record (surpassing Cameron Dollar’s 82 steals in 1997).
- UCLA’s roster features seven players who have scored at least 20 points in one career game, with six of those seven having registered at least 20 points in a game this season ... Jordan Adams leads the Bruins with 13 games of 20 points or more and has scored in double figures in 29 of 34 games played.
ALL-PAC-12 ACCOLADES
Jordan Adams (17.4 pgg, 5.4 rpg) and Kyle Anderson (14.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 6.6 apg) earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors, marking the second consecutive year in which two UCLA players secured first-team acclaim (last season, Larry Drew II and Shabazz Muhammad). In addition, Bryce Alford (8.1 ppg, 2.7 apg) and Zach LaVine (9.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) were among five players named to the conference’s All-Freshman Team.
MARCH MADNESS
Head coach Steve Alford has become the 12th head coach in college basketball history to have led at least four NCAA Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament (Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico and UCLA). In addition, he is just one of five head coaches in that select group to have won at least one NCAA Tournament game at four schools.
CONNECT FOUR
The other 11 coaches to have led at least four NCAA Division I teams to the NCAA Tournament include John Beilein, Lefty Driesell, Cliff Ellis, Larry Eustachy, Jim Harrick, Lon Kruger, Fran McCaffery, Tom Penders, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and Eddie Sutton. Eight of those 11 coaches are active head coaches.

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