Tuesday, March 13, 2018

UCLA Secures No. 11 Seed in NCAA Tournament



mar 11, 2018 | UCLA MEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE | POST LINK


The Bruins will play St. Bonaventure in a First Four game on Tuesday (6:10 pm, PT) in Dayton, Ohio.

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LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team has earned a No. 11 seed in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, as announced Sunday afternoon.

The Bruins (21-11) will face No. 11-seed St. Bonaventure (25-7) in a First Four matchup in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday (6:10 PST). The winner of that game will take on No. 6-seed Florida (20-12) in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday. The other matchup in Dallas on Thursday will be No. 3-seed Texas Tech (24-9) versus No. 14-seed Stephen F. Austin (28-6).

UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 49th time in school history and will be making its 11th appearance in the national tournament in the last 14 seasons. The Bruins compiled a 21-11 record and an 11-7 mark in Pac-12 play (tied, third place).

The Bruins are entering this year's NCAA Tournament having won eight of their last 12 games. Most recently, UCLA upended Stanford, 88-77, last Thursday before losing in overtime to top-seed Arizona, 78-67, in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.

Led by first-team All-Pac-12 selection Aaron Holiday, the Bruins rank second in the conference in scoring (81.9 ppg) and have led all Pac-12 teams in rebounds per game (38.8), three-point field goal percentage (38.3) and defensive rebounds per game (28.5). UCLA's 9.4 three-pointers made per game rank second in the Pac-12.

This season's tournament selection marks the fourth year in five seasons under Steve Alford, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach, in which the Bruins will compete in the NCAA Tournament. In three prior trips to the NCAA Tournament under Coach Alford (2014, 2015 and 2017), UCLA has advanced to the Sweet 16 (regional semifinals).

Holiday leads all Pac-12 players in scoring (20.3 ppg), while senior Thomas Welsh ranks second in the Pac-12 in rebounds (10.7 rpg). Welsh secured second-team All-Pac-12 honors and is one of five finalists for the 2018 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

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