How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: Colorado Buffaloes at UCLA Bruins

Feb 16, 2024

Adem Bona and Dylan Andrews combined for 25 of UCLA’s 61 points on Saturday against UC Berkeley. (Photo Credit: Jan Kim Lim/uclabruins.com)

The Bruins continue to be one of the hottest teams in the country, having won five straight and seven of their last eight games.

Sure, the Bruins hung on for a narrow one-point win on Saturday in Berkeley, but good teams find ways to win and, sometimes, those wins can be ugly. But they are still W’s, and that’s what Saturday’s game was, even if it was only by a point.

As UCLA enters the home stretch, five of the next seven games will be played in the friendly confines of Pauley Pavilion, starting with tonight’s game against Colorado and Saturday’s game against Utah.

The Buffaloes are one of the two Pac-12 teams that the Bruins will only play once this season. Washington State is the other. So, tonight’s game against Colorado is the first, and only, time the teams will play during the regular season.

While the Buffs are generally playing well overall, they have lost five of their last six conference road games. Their only Pac-12 road win this season came on January 24th at Washington. They’ve lost to both Arizona schools, UC Berkeley, Washington State, and Utah. Hopefully, tonight’s game will result in another road loss for Colorado.

Colorado’s Starting Five

Colorado Coach Tad Boyle is likely to start a traditional lineup with two guards, two forwards and a center and all five probable starters are averaging in double figures.

The Buffs are led by guard KJ Sampson who averages 19.4 ppg. Sampson also leads the team with 4.6 assists per game. His 42.9% three-point percentage makes him CU’s best three-point shooter among players who have taken more than 30 shots from behind the arc.

The other guard will be senior J’Vonne Hadley. Hadley is averaging 11.5 ppg which is fourth on the team and he is second in rebounds with an average of 5.8 per game. While Hadley doesn’t shoot as often as others on the team, he is dangerous because he has high shooting percentage from both three-point range (44.0%) and from the field (55.8%).

Senior forward Tristan da Silva is the second-most dangerous player on the Buffaloes. He’s averaging 15.5 ppg and he has a 48.3% shooting percentage. He isn’t as good from behind the arc as Sampson, but he still makes 37.5% of his three-point attempts and he shoots more of them than anyone else on the team except for Sampson. So, the Bruins need to cover him outside. Defensively, da Silva is second on the Buffs in blocks with 11.

The other forward is freshman Cody Williams from Gilbert, Arizona. He is averaging 14.0 ppg. Despite shooting a lot less than Sampson and da Silva, his shooting percentages from both three-point range (46.7%) and from the field (56.2%) are the highest on the team. Williams also leads the team in blocks with 12.

The final starter for Colorado will be center Eddie Lampkin, Jr. The senior from Houston is the top rebounder on the team with 7.2 rpg. He’s also averaging 10.0 ppg. Just don’t expect him to block a lot of shots. He’s only fourth in blocks with five even though he’s the tallest guy on the team.

The first two guys off the bench for Boyle will be guards Julian Hammond and Luke O’Brien. Hammond averages 7.7 ppg while O’Brian scores an average of 6.6 ppg.

Analysis

The defensive keys for the game for UCLA are pretty simple. The Bruins need to stop Sampson and da Silva. That might be easier said than done, considering that Colorado has been held to fewer than 68 points just once in conference play this season.

That means that the Bruins will need to continue playing well offensively tonight and they will need another big game from Lazar Stefanovic if they want to keep their winning streak — and possibly their NCAA Tournament hopes — alive.

Listen to the Game With TMB

Tonight’s game will be on ESPN with Dave Pasch and Cory Alexander 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 tonight’s game online.

This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. Colorado game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game:

UCLA Men’s Basketball (13-11, 8-5)

Opponent: Colorado Buffaloes (16-8, 7-6)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 19-7
When: 6:00 pm PT, Thursday, February 15, 2024
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: ESPN with Dave Pasch and Cory Alexander
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 373 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Colorado

Go Bruins!!!

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