No. 23 UCLA Opens 2014-15 Season at James Madison

by uclabruins.com
Nov 12, 2014

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LOS ANGELES – The No. 23 UCLA women’s basketball team hits the road to open the 2014-15 season at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 14. Game time is slated for 10:00 a.m. (PT)/1:00 p.m. (ET). The game will not be televised, but you can hear UCLA's audio broadcast on this site and stream video on James Madison's site (links provided below).

GAME INFORMATION
Venue: JMU Convocation Center
Arena Capacity: 6,426
Date: Friday, Nov. 14, 2014
Time: 10:00 a.m. (PT)/1:00 p.m. (ET)
Listen Online: www.uclabruins.com
Internet Audio: Dave Marcus (play-by-play)
Watch Online: Click here for live stream

UCLA MENTOR
Head Coach Cori Close enters her fourth year with the Bruins and has guided UCLA to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a Pac-12 Tournament runner-up finish in 2012-13. She sports an overall record of 53-42 (.558).

McDONALD'S ALL-AMERICANS
The UCLA women’s basketball team enters the 2014-15 season with a renewed optimism having signed the program’s first-ever No. 1 recruiting class in the country, featuring three McDonald’s All-Americans (Recee' Caldwell, Jordin Canada and Lajahna Drummer) and five newcomers all ranked in the Top 30 in the country (Kelli Hayesand Monique Billings are the other two standouts in the class). The three incoming McDonald’s selections will join another McDonald’s All-American, junior guard Nirra Fields, giving the Bruins four on the court for the first time in program history.

VS. JAMES MADISON
UCLA will face James Madison for just the fourth time in program history but for the second straight year. JMU leads the all-time series 3-0 after posting a 77-67 win in the quarterfinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla., on Nov. 29, 2013. The Dukes also won in Harrisonburg, Va., 78-72, on Dec. 16, 1991 and posted a 75-69 victory in Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 30, 1990.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
UCLA is ranked No. 23 in both pre-season polls (AP and USA Today). The Bruins' 2014-15 schedule is loaded with nationally-ranked teams as a total of eight of them are in the pre-season Top 25 with another three programs receiving votes. The Bruins have four on the schedule that are ranked in the Top 10. Connecticut is No. 1, Notre Dame comes in at No. 3, Stanford is currently ranked No. 6 while Texas stands in 9th. Also on the Bruins' schedule is No. 13 North Carolina, No. 15 California, No. 16 Nebraska and No. 20 Oregon State. Three other teams on the Bruins' schedule (Oregon, Arizona State and James Madison) are receiving votes.

ON THE TUBE
The UCLA Bruins will be making a total of 19 television appearances (18 on the Pac-12 Networks and one on ESPN2) during the 2014-15 regular season. That is up one from the 2013-14 season. The Bruins had 14 in 2012-13 and just four during the 2011-12 campaign. Again this year, UCLA will have the distinction of having the first televised conference game when they travel to USC on Dec. 30, 2014 (6:00 p.m.).

PRESEASON PROJECTIONS
UCLA was selected to finish fourth in the Pac-12 conference’s preseason coaches and media polls.

OTHER RANKINGS
The Sporting News ranked UCLA at No. 5 in the country in its preseason college basketball magazine and collegsportsmadness.com has the Bruins in at No. 11 to start the season.

2014-15 SEASON TICKETS
Women’s basketball season tickets are on sale at the UCLA Central Ticket Office (310-UCLA-WIN). For more ticket information, or to buy tickets now, click here.