Freshman Peyton Watson scored 10 points in Thursday night’s win over UC Berkeley. (Photo Credit: Scott Chandler/uclabruins.com)
Tonight, Jerod Haase brings his Stanford Cardinal team into Pauley Pavilion after edging Southern Cal, 64-61, on Thursday night at the Galen Center. Haase’s team has beaten the Bruins the past two times the teams have met.
Meanwhile, the Bruins are hot. They’ve won ten of the last eleven games and they’ve easily beaten both Arizona and UC Berkeley already this week. They managed to crush Berkeley without having Johnny Juzang available. Juzang missed Thursday’s game due to COVID protocols. It remains to be seen whether he will be available tonight.
Assuming he won’t be, the Bruins will likely need another team effort like they got on Thursday against the Golden Bears.
Since losing to Arizona last Thursday night, the Cardinal have beaten both Arizona State and the Trojans. They won each game by just three points.
Let’s look at the Stanford starting five.
Starting Five
Jerod Haase will probably start a squad composed of four forwards. Sophomore Michael O’Connell is the only guard who will probably be in the Cardinal’s starting five. Unsurprisingly, O’Connell leads the team in assists per game with 3.9. He doesn’t contribute as many points as the team’s forwards. In fact, he’s fifth on the team with an average of just 7.1 ppg and even reserve Brandon Angel averages more points.
While O’Connell will lead the team up the floor, the Bruins will be looking to stop forward Harrison Ingram. The team’s only starting freshman leads the Cardinal in scoring with 11.6 ppg. He is one of three guys on the team averaging in double figures. Not only that, but he’s a force on the boards where he is averaging 6.9 rebounds per game as well. He’s also second on the team in assists with a average of just under three per game. Clearly, stopping him may be the key to winning tonight’s game.
While Ingram may be the Cardinal’s only starting freshman, their only starting senior is Jaiden Delaire. Delaire is second on the Cardinal in scoring with an average of 11.2 ppg. The 6’9” forward is second behind Ingram in rebounds with an average of 4.4 per game. Together, Ingram and Delaire makeup Stanford’s 1-2 punch.
Rounding out the starting five are a pair of juniors. Spencer Jones is the third Stanford player averaging in double figures with an average of 10.0 ppg. Last but not least is James Keefe. Keefe has seen in increase in playing time in conference games compared to non-conference games and he’s contributing more. He’s averaging 5.4 ppg in Pac-12 play but just 4.9 ppg overall. His defense has also improved in conference games. 11 of his 15 turnovers have come against conference opponents as have 4 of his 6 blocks and all 7 of his steals. So, clearly, he’s earning his playing time with his defense.
Outlook
It’s hard to know which Stanford team will show up tonight. On one hand, there is the team which has beaten Oregon once and Southern Cal twice. Then, there’s the team which lost to Colorado, got crushed by Arizona and lost to Washington by three points.
If the team that beat Southern Cal shows up, tonight’s game could be a brawl, but if the team that rolled over for the Wildcats comes to Pauley tonight, the game could be over by the first half.
Ultimately, I think that’s what it will come down to. If the Cardinal come to Westwood tonight and don’t play with intensity, this game could be over by halftime as long as UCLA doesn’t let them back into the game in the second half like they did against Colorado twice.
If that happens, the Cardinal might be able to steal one, even if the game has to go to overtime.
Hopefully, the Bruins play with the same intensity we saw against both Arizona and UC Berkeley this week. If they can do that, they should win tonight’s game.
Listen to the Game With TMB!
TuneIn.com now has UCLA’s games listed as “premium” content. So, rather than using TuneIn, you can just listen through the official website like we have done with the small sports for a long time in order to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray call today’s game, but why would you want to? Yes, you guessed it! National treasure Bill Walton is working his fourth UCLA game in a row. and second in a row with Ted Robinson on the Pac-12 Networks. How could you not want to listen to Big Red? But if you don’t, 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 today’s game online.
In the meantime, here’s how to watch tonight’s game:
This is your Stanford Cardinal at #7 UCLA Bruins game thread.
#7 UCLA Men’s Basketball (15-2, 7-1)
Opponent: Stanford Cardinal (12-6, 5-3)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 147-97
When: 6:30 pm PT, Saturday, January 29, 2022
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Pac-12 Networks National, Los Angeles and Bay Area with Ted Robinson and Bill Walton
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
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More offensive movement without Juzang
Oh, Jaime please get up!
Wow we finally get Jaquez back and he is on the ground. Ugh!
Tigre!
Nice!!
Beauty!
Shooting almost 60% and all of the starters are scoring!
Great to see Jaime back!
We are missing open 3s. Hopefully that changes as the game goes on.
Yay Cody, Two freethrows, the key to an aggressive defense or offense.
82% Free throws, I'll take that!
Can the refs check the monitor any more??
That is a flop!
Bizarre, Cody is doing well with no fouls. Is there some coaching?
We are 1 for 10 for 3. Luckily Stanford can't hit a shot.
Aw, c'mon, Code
Kyman with the 3!
And Singleton!
Great defense! Nice effort without Juzang, Clark and Jaime for most of that half.
Maybe we should stop shooting 3s?
Kyman what a play!
The constant whistles are killing the tempo of the game
Nice play from Jules. Need more of that as the outside shots are not falling.
Watson with the fade away!
yay, Jake!
Stong is in!
Smothering defense by the Bruins. Great game for the bench.
Good night, Mighty Bruins, a good win for us.