UCLA Basketball Hosts Long Beach State on Sunday Evening
LOS ANGELES - UCLA's basketball team returns to action against Long Beach State (2-2) on Sunday evening in Pauley Pavilion. Sunday’s 7 p.m. (PT) game will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. UCLA (3-0) looks to secure a victory Sunday before departing for the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament (Nov. 26-28) in the Bahamas next week.
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion (13,800)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 23
Tipoff Time: 7:05 p.m. (PT)
Television: Pac-12 Networks
TV Talent: J.B. Long (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst)
Radio: AM 570
Radio Talent: Chris Roberts (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
ABOUT SUNDAY'S GAME
Tickets are available by ordering online or calling the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310-UCLA-WIN (825-2946). The Pauley Pavilion Box Office (north side) will open Sunday at 5:30 p.m., prior to the 7 p.m. game. More information about directions to Pauley, parking and tickets can be found through our Gameday Info website.
LISTEN LIVE
UCLA's game against Long Beach State on Sunday night will be broadcast live on the UCLA Sports Network from IMG College on AM 570 (KLAC), the flagship home of UCLA Athletics. Chris Roberts and former UCLA basketball standout Tracy Murray will have the call, live from Pauley Pavilion. Fans can also listen to the audio broadcast by using the TuneIn radio app (click here).
HISTORY AGAINST LONG BEACH STATE
The Bruins last played Long Beach State on Dec. 18, 2012, securing an 89-70 win over the 49ers in Pauley Pavilion. UCLA has recorded a 12-1 all-time record against Long Beach State. The 49ers’ lone victory in the all-time series came on the final day of the 76 Classic (Anaheim) on Nov. 29, 2009 (Long Beach State 79, UCLA 68).
FAMILIAR COACHES
UCLA’s Steve Alford and Long Beach State’s Dan Monson have seen their teams face each other prior to their current head coaching roles. Alford served as Iowa’s head coach from 1999-00 through 2006-07, the same eight seasons in which Monson was head coach at Minnesota. In their head-to-head meetings as Big Ten foes, Alford’s Iowa teams went 9-5 against Monson’s Minnesota squads.
THURSDAY’S WIN
UCLA cruised past Nicholls State, 107-74, on Thursday evening in Pauley Pavilion. Bryce Alford scored a team-high 28 points and had a career-best 13 assists (one turnover). Kevon Looney had his second consecutive double-double (12 points, 14 rebounds). Tony Parker had 20 points and seven rebounds, while Norman Powell scored 23 points to round out UCLA’s double-figure scorers. UCLA led the visiting Colonels, 60-29, at halftime.
THREE STRAIGHT WINS
The Bruins have opened the season with a 3-0 mark for the third straight season. UCLA has twice reached the 100-point plateau this season, scoring a season-best 113 points in a season-opening win over Montana State (113-78) on Nov. 14 before defeating Nicholls State, 107-74, on Nov. 20. In 40 games under head coach Steve Alford, UCLA has reached the 100-point mark five times (includes three games last season).
SCORE AND DISTRIBUTE
Bryce Alford enters Sunday’s game as the Bruins’ leading scorer (21.0 ppg) and has averaged 10.7 assists per game. The sophomore from Albuquerque, N.M., has amassed a 5.3-to-1 assist-turnover ratio through UCLA’s three games. He had a career-best 13 assists and just one turnover in UCLA’s 107-74 win against Nicholls State on Thursday night. Alford also had 12 assists and three turnovers against Montana State on Nov. 14. A Pac-12 All-Freshman Team selection last year, Alford has made 11 of 22 three-pointers and all 12 of his free throw attempts.
LOONEY LIVING LARGE
Kevon Looney, a 6-foot-9 forward from Milwaukee, Wis., has become the first UCLA freshman to ever record at least two double-doubles in his first three collegiate games. In the Bruins’ season opener, he netted 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Two nights later, he logged his first collegiate double-double (17 points, 14 rebounds) and dished three assists. Against Nicholls State last Thursday, Looney finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
SENIOR LEADER
Norman Powell, who has played in each of UCLA’s last 108 games, has averaged 20.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He scored a game-leading 25 points against Montana State (Nov. 14) and had 23 points versus Nicholls State (Nov. 20). Powell, a 6-foot-4 guard from San Diego, has shot 50 percent from the field (18 of 36 total attempts) and 50 percent from three-point range (7 of 14). Over the course of four seasons at UCLA, Powell has totaled 846 career points (7.8 ppg), 269 rebounds (2.5 rpg) and 143 assists (1.3 apg).
OUR TEAM – WHO’S BACK
UCLA returns three of its eight primary players from last year’s team – senior guard Norman Powell, junior forward/center Tony Parker and sophomore guard Bryce Alford. Each of those three key returners played in all 37 games for UCLA one year ago, helping the Bruins finish the season with a 28-9 record, including a Pac-12 Tournament title and the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 since 2008. Powell is UCLA’s top returning scorer, having registered 11.4 points per game in 2013-14.
NORMAN POWELL – UCLA’s most veteran player, Powell has competed in all 106 games for the Bruins since the start of the 2011-12 season. The senior hailing from San Diego, Calif., averaged just 5.3 points per game in his first two seasons before netting 11.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game last season.
TONY PARKER – A 6-foot-9 forward/center from Atlanta, Parker made significant strides on the court in 2013-14. He averaged 6.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game (17.2 minutes per game) after having played sparingly as a freshman in 2012-13 (2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg in 6.3 minutes per game).
BRYCE ALFORD – Selected as one of five players to last season’s Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, Alford averaged 8.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in 2013-14. He played in all 37 games (making one start) and was one of two freshmen in the nation to record over 100 assists and fewer than 50 turnovers.
NOAH ALLEN – The 6-foot-6 guard from Pacific Grove, Calif., battled back from multiple fractures to the face (sustained Nov. 12, 2013), playing in 11 games for UCLA as a freshman in 2013-14. Allen did not see major minutes on the court, but he was able to play in five of the Bruins’ six postseason games.
WANAAH BAIL – A 6-foot-9 forward from Houston, Texas, Bail played in 13 games as a freshman in 2013-14. Bail overcame preseason knee surgery in the summer of 2013, returning to the lineup in UCLA’s sixth game of the season. He averaged just 4.6 minutes per game, netting 1.6 points and 0.6 rebounds per contest.
WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
UCLA added five freshmen and has welcomed sophomore Isaac Hamilton to its rotation (Hamilton sat out in 2013-14). Freshmen Kevon Looney (6-foot-9 forward) and Thomas Welsh (7-foot center) both earned 2014 McDonald’s All-America honors. The Bruins’ incoming group also includes two international big men – 6-foot-10 forward Gyorgy “G.G.” Goloman from Hungary and 6-foot-10 guard/forward Jonah Bolden from Australia (Bolden will sit out the season due to NCAA rules). Alec Wulff, a 6-foot-3 guard from Laguna Beach, Calif., has also joined the program.