OCT 02, 2015 | MEN'S BASKETBALL
By: UCLA Athletics
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LOS ANGELES - The UCLA men’s basketball team officially opened its fall practice schedule Friday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion, completing a nearly two-hour long practice with the entire squad.
Nearly all of UCLA’s returning players spent the majority of the summer attending classes in Westwood and taking part in summer workouts. Now, with the season just 42 days from tipping off Friday, Nov. 13, and fall quarter classes back in session, team practices are in full swing.
“Our guys did a really good job this summer, and I’m not just talking about the freshmen,” said Steve Alford, who enters his third season as the Bruins’ head coach. “Our returning players really took advantage of this time to get bigger, to get stronger. It’s a natural progression, where the freshmen will look a little bit different once their sophomores and then sophomores like Isaac and Bryce get even stronger going into their junior seasons.”
UCLA returns six of its primary eight contributors from last season’s team, a group that compiled a 22-14 record and earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. The Bruins bring back four of their top six scorers from 2014-15 – junior Bryce Alford (15.4 ppg), senior Tony Parker (11.5 ppg), junior Isaac Hamilton (10.6 ppg) and sophomore Thomas Welsh (3.8 ppg).
The most notable departures from last year’s squad include Norman Powell and Kevon Looney. Powell led UCLA with 16.4 points per game. He graduated last June, two weeks prior to being selected in the NBA Draft and later acquired by the Toronto Raptors. Looney was a first-round NBA Draft pick by the Golden State Warriors, averaging 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game as a freshman.
With the draft departures and an influx of five newcomers, the Bruins look to have increased depth this season both in the backcourt and frontcourt.
“We know that we’ll have to play a little bit different with our lineups,” said Alford, who enters his 25th season as a college head coach. “We’re going to have some versatility this season that we haven’t had yet. Norman was your prototype 6-foot-4 guard, and now we bring in a guy like Jonah Bolden, who’s over 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. We can play big-big with Thomas and Tony. I like what I’ve seen out of our bigs, and we certainly have a little more flexibility there.”
Over the past two seasons, Alford has guided the Bruins to a 50-23 record and seen five of his players selected in the NBA Draft – Zach LaVine, Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson, Kevon Looney and Norman Powell. In addition, Travis Wear and David Wear both played in the NBA last season after having graduated from UCLA.
The Bruins will host an exhibition game against Cal State Los Angeles in Pauley Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 30. Game time is 7:30 p.m. UCLA will get its regular season underway against Monmouth in Pauley Pavilion on Friday, Nov. 13. Game time of the season opener is 8 p.m.
Season tickets, 10-game ticket packages and single-game tickets are currently on sale. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting www.uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310-UCLA-WIN.
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