The UCLA basketball team fell to 14-16 on Thursday when the Bruins lost to Arizona at home. That loss guaranteed that UCLA will conclude the regular season tonight with a losing record for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
In fact, in order to finish the season with a just .500 record, the Bruins need to win tonight and they need to win two more games in the Pac-12 Tournament. Frankly, I’m not sure that that’s possible, given how the team has played over the last five games.
The good news for UCLA is that, tonight, they face a Sun Devil team which has lost four of their last five games. So, ASU’s end-of-season skid has been almost as bad as the one the Bruins are mired in.
In fact, the Sun Devils have been terrible most of the conference season. After beginning Pac-12 play by going 4-0, Arizona State has gone just 4-11 over their last 15 games. The second loss in that group of games was UCLA’s 68-66 win over the Sun Devils in Tempe.
So, at least on paper, UCLA should be able to win tonight. But, as we’ve seen over the past five games, that might not mean a whole lot. And, after losing to the Wildcats on Thursday, the best finish UCLA can hope for is fifth place behind Arizona, Washington State, Colorado, and Oregon.
To do that, the Bruins do need some help from the Ducks, in addition to a win tonight. That’s because UCLA is currently tied with Utah for fifth and the Utes hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bruins. But a loss could see UCLA slip as low as the seventh-seed in the conference tournament since it looks like Washington and UC Berkeley would win the tiebreakers to earn themselves higher seeds.
But before worrying about seeding in the conference tournament, UCLA needs to worry about beating a team they barely beat the last time they met.
It looks like Bobby Hurley has made one change to his starting lineup since the last game against the Bruins. Sophomore Shawn Phillips, Jr. has replaced Alonzo Gaffney in the starting lineup.
Despite that, it looks like Gaffney is still getting more playing time than Phillips. On Thursday night at the Galen Center, Phillips played just 14 minutes to Gaffney’s 21. It’s easy to see why. The two players have nearly identical scoring averages for Pac-12 games, 5.7 for Gaffney to 5.5 for Phillips. Gaffney leads Phillips in rebounds, assists, steals and he has committed fewer turnovers. So, while Phillips may start instead of Gaffney, the latter will still likely see more playing time tonight.
Overall, though, that still shouldn’t change what the Bruins have planned for the game tonight.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Tonight’s game will be on Fox Sports 1 with Wayne Randazzo and Casey Jacobsen calling the game. If you prefer, you can listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray. Just be sure to right-click on it so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below. Listen to todays’s game online.
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Love our game threads... Game threads are always so much more uplifting than post game threads when so many of us are down in the dumps and grumpy about everything from coaching to players to recruiting and of course the Darth Vader NIL 🤣
So we are definitely in 5th place with a win tonight which would seed us against 12th place Oregon State in the Tourney. Also ASU is without their 2nd leading scorer who has left the team. Just saying...
I have been a Boston Celtics and UCLA fan since the mid/late 1950’s. My Celtics just beat Phoenix. Maybe we can win too tonight and make my day. PS. Wish we could shoot like the Celtics!!!
Wonder what's up with Bill Walton? He was actually supposed to be on the last telecast instead of that asshat Dick Jefferson, and now he's not here tonight on alumni night. Hope all is ok.
Good evening Bruin friends! Unfortunatel this game is at 11 my time on Spring forward night. I will try. Go Bruins win the last one!
U! clap! clap! clap!
U Clap Clap Clap
Love our game threads... Game threads are always so much more uplifting than post game threads when so many of us are down in the dumps and grumpy about everything from coaching to players to recruiting and of course the Darth Vader NIL 🤣
Good evening all. We’ll see how long I last. Appreciate all of you and look for to our chat with each other every game.
So we are definitely in 5th place with a win tonight which would seed us against 12th place Oregon State in the Tourney. Also ASU is without their 2nd leading scorer who has left the team. Just saying...
I have been a Boston Celtics and UCLA fan since the mid/late 1950’s. My Celtics just beat Phoenix. Maybe we can win too tonight and make my day. PS. Wish we could shoot like the Celtics!!!
Here we go Bruins!!
Adem wins the jump and makes our first hoop!
Not the start we needed...
Andrews!!!!
Dylan drops a 3!
Dylan!
No defense. smdh.
Horrible D
Already shooting well DA!
Sun devils have shown up! :(
Is there zero pride in the Four Letters? Damn where is the fight... 🧐🧐🧐
Nice seeing Silk looking good.
Jamaal Wilkes...my favorite Bruin/Laker ever. Love Silk!
Bona has learned how to move inside.
Bona for 2 Throws!
Wonder what's up with Bill Walton? He was actually supposed to be on the last telecast instead of that asshat Dick Jefferson, and now he's not here tonight on alumni night. Hope all is ok.
That was not a travel!
SPTRs again.
Bona for another 2 Throws!
Bona!
Sweet Bona get a post game!
Gah, poor Burke cannot buy a break. Great effort to get that steal and ends up out of bounds.
Pretty apropos, actually
Stef!!!!
Good D is here, so far...
Berke!!!!
Looks like team basketball
Over/under on the Hurley technical tonight: 10 minute mark in the 2nd half.
I say under (before)
Wo-hoo, Stef for a 3 and we lead, Then Berke for 3!
Good Defense => productive offense.
Doing that for 40 mins...we'll see
Nice stretch. Good D. In sync O
Bona!!!
Bona x2!!!
Bona getting some high percentage shots here!
On a run I like this!
suc is leading zona if anyone cares.
We get sloppy when we get a lead.
Why did Logan Cremonesi start? Someone tell me why the guy that averages 0.3 minutes a game is starting!
Losing lead big time.
Then Stef!!!
Better passing
Yay, Stef!
So sloppy. Hard to watch. We play so well at times then totally lose basketball sense.