How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: #24 Michigan Wolverines at #22/21 UCLA Bruins
Tonight, the UCLA men’s basketball team returns home to face a good Michigan team. The Wolverines currently are tied for the top spot of the Big Ten standings with Michigan State. Both teams are 3-0 in conference play so far.
After losing to Nebraska on Saturday, the Bruins are now a full game behind with a 2-1 conference record. UCLA fell to #22 in this week’s AP Poll and to #21 in this week’s Coaches’ Poll.
Tonight’s game is the second of four games this season, and the first conference matchup, which will be streamed and not available on traditional cable or over-the-air television. In fact, it looks like tonight’s game will be UCLA’s first men’s basketball game which won’t be televised on cable or over-the-air TV since March 1, 2012 when the Bruins played Washington State at the LA Sports Arena. With three more Big Ten games streaming on Peacock this year, it won’t be the last. Welcome to the future.
The Wolverines are in their first year under head coach Dusty May. May came to Ann Arbor after spending six seasons at Florida Atlantic, where he led the Owls to 126–69 record including a Final Four appearance in 2023 and a Round of 64 appearance last season.
So far this season, May has led the Wolverines to a 2-1 mark against ranked teams.
Let’s look at the starters for Michigan.
Michigan Starting Five
May has started the same five guys in every game this season, and he uses a lineup consisting of three guards, a forward and a center.
The only player who followed May from Florida Atlantic is seven-foot, one-inch center Vladislav Goldin. The Russian senior leads the the Wolverines in both points and blocks. He averages 13.7 ppg and he’s blocked 26 shots. Stopping him is critical to defeating Michigan today because he makes 67.6% of all of his shot attempts.
One category that Goldin does not lead Michigan in is rebounds. While Goldin averages 5.7 rpg, junior forward Danny Wolf averages almost five more per game for a total of 10.4 per game. The fact that Wolf is also a seven-footer probably helps explain that along with the fact that he has just two fewer blocks behind Goldin, too. Wolf is no slouch on the offensive end either. He is third on the team in scoring with an average of 12.5 ppg and his 58.8% shooting percentage is second-best on the team.
Moving to the guards, junior transfer Tre Donaldson comes to Ann Arbor after starting his college career at Auburn. Donaldson leads the guards in scoring with 12.6 ppg and his 55 assists lead the team. Among the starters, he’s the second-best three-point shooter with a three-point percentage of 43.9%, but his 48.0% shooting percentage is the worst. In fact, he’s the only starter with a shooting percentage under 50%.
Junior guard Roddy Gale, Jr. spent his first two college seasons playing for Michigan’s hated rival, Ohio State. This year, he’s fourth on the Wolverines in scoring, though his 12.4 ppg average puts him just two-tenths of a point behind Wolf and he’s tied with Wolf for the team lead in steals with 16.
The final starting guard is grad transfer Nimari Burnett, who is in his second season with the Wolverines after beginning his college career at Texas Tech and spending two seasons with Alabama. Burnett is the final guy averaging in double figures with an average of 10.1 ppg. He’s Michigan’s top three-point shooter, and more than half of the shots he’s made have been from long range. He’s made 28 threes and 48 shots total. His 45.9% three-point percentage is best on the team among players who have taken five three-point attempts or more.
Analysis
One way UCLA can win tonight’s game is by getting the starters into foul trouble. In fact, the deeper May has to go on his bench the better UCLA’s chances will be. None of May’s reserves are averaging more than 6.7 ppg and three of his top six reserves are averaging 3.5 ppg or less.
So, if the Bruins can get a few guys into foul trouble early, it will go a long way towards a Bruin win tonight.
Of course, we all saw on Saturday what happens when the Bruins don’t shoot well. So, they will also need to score on the other end of the floor in order to make sure UCLA wins tonight.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Today’s game will only be streamed on Peacock with Terry Gannon and Jalen Rose calling the action. If you’re a Spectrum subscriber, you can get Peacock for free with your cable subscription. Call Spectrum if you need to more info. If you have a different TV provider, contact them to see if they are including Peacock with your TV subscription. As usual, you can listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or online. To listen online, just right-click on the link below 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.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. Michigan Wolverines game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:
#22/21 UCLA Men’s Basketball (11-3, 2-1)
Opponent: #24 Michigan Wolverines (11-3, 3-0)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 13-6
When: 7:00 pm PT, Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: None
Live Stream: PeacockTV.com and the Peacock app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Channel 83 (UCLA feed)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
Ok folks. I really don’t want to hear talk bout a bad team or awful coaching. We just came back from down 18 against a good team. Bad teams don’t do that. And we have beaten Gonzaga, Arizona and Oregon.
Disappointed to admit, but Michigan was the better team.
Good night, fellow Alums. Happy New Year.