How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: Oregon Ducks at UCLA Bruins

Feb 4

Dylan Andrews scored 18 points on Thursday against Oregon State. (Photo Credit: Jan Kim Lim/uclabruins.com)

Believe it or not, the UCLA Bruins could find themselves in a tie for fourth place in the Pac-12 by the end of this weekend if they can beat the Ducks tonight and Washington State and Stanford both lose. What’s more unbelievable is that UCLA is currently just two games out of first place in the conference and a win tonight coupled with an Arizona loss would move the Bruins to just one game out of a tie for first place.

After watching this team struggle as much as it did earlier in the season, it was hard to fathom that these Bruins could potentially challenge for the Pac-12 regular season title, but they are on the verge of doing just that.

It reminds me how people were saying that the Bruins were going to be a tough team to beat later in the season. But since the month and a half-long swoon that saw UCLA drop eight of nine games, the Bruins have come roaring back by winning four of their last five games.

Now, make no mistake.

UCLA is likely to lose tonight’s game to the first place Ducks. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have a chance to win tonight’s game either. After all, they only lost by five when they played Oregon in Eugene. Will the magic of Pauley Pavilion coupled with an improving team be enough to beat the Ducks tonight? It should certainly make things interesting. That’s for sure.

Starting Five

Of course, the biggest potential issue for the Bruins is that this is not the same Ducks team that the Bruins faced at the end of December.

First, center N’Faly Dante has returned to the lineup, and he has returned to being an integral part of the Duck offense. Dante is second on the team behind Jermaine Couisnard in scoring. While he’s still only played in seven games, he’s averaging 14.3 ppg in those games while Couisnard is averaging 14.7 ppg.

In addition to Dante returning to the lineup, there are two other guys who are starting for Oregon now who didn’t start against UCLA last time. That would be Kario Oquendo and Jadrian Tracey. Now, those guys won’t be new to the Bruins since both of them got more playing time against the Bruins than Brennan Rigsby and Kwame Evans, Jr., the guys they replaced in the starting lineup.

Jackson Shelsted, who scored 20 against UCLA in Eugene, will be in the starting lineup tonight, too. So, UCLA will need to find a way to keep in check this time.

Now, just because Rigsby and Evans won’t start doesn’t mean they won’t play. Against Southern Cal the other night they still played. They just didn’t start. The same holds true for center Mahamadou Diawara. With Dante back, Diawara returns to a reserve role. He played less than eight minutes against the Trojans on Thursday and scored no points.

Analysis

So, a tough Ducks squad is now tougher due to the return of Dante.

For UCLA to win tonight, they will need to play tough defense and minimize the damage done by the trio of Dante, Couisnard and Shelsted. Meanwhile, the Bruins will needs to maximize their offensive output like they did on Thursday against the Beavers. UCLA needs Andrews, Bona and Stefanovic to come up in double figures again like they did two nights ago.

Listen to the Game With TMB

This evening’s game will be on ESPN with Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams 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. Oregon Ducks game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game:

UCLA Men’s Basketball (10-11, 5-5)

Opponent: Oregon Ducks (15-6, 7-3)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 103-40
When: 7:00 pm PT, Saturday, February 3, 2024
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: ESPN2 with Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 391 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Oregon