How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: Washington Huskies at UCLA Bruins

Jan 14

How bad was Thursday’s loss to Utah? Dylan Andrews led UCLA with just nine points. (Photo Credit: Jan Kim Lim/uclabruins.com)

Thursday night’s 46-point loss goes down as the second-biggest loss in UCLA history. It was worse than 2014’s 83-44 loss to Kentucky, though that game will still be infamous for the worst half of basketball in Bruin history. The only loss UCLA has ever suffered that was worse than the beating they took on Thursday night came against Stanford back on January 9, 1997 when the Bruins lost 109-61 in the “Maples Massacre.”

The good news is that Thursday’s game was so bad that it has to get better today.

I would hate to be the Huskies this afternoon.

Hopefully, the Bruins were so embarrassed by the other night’s fiasco that they come out angry this afternoon and pound the hell out of Washington. Though, personally, I wouldn’t recommend anyone go bet the house on that.

Washington comes into today’s game having won their last two games after they lost their first three Pac-12 games of the season. The Huskies did actually beat Gonzaga by five at home in Seattle in early December.

On the plus side, Washington has beaten the Bruins just eight times in Westwood since 1936. Will this afternoon’s game become the ninth Husky win?

Let’s look at Mike Hopkins’ probable starting five.

Starting Five

The Huskies bring a very experienced team with them on their final Pac-12 trip to Westwood. Four of the team’s five probable starters are graduate students and all five of them started their college basketball careers elsewhere. Such is the state of college basketball.

The Huskies are led by forward Keion Brooks. Brooks is in his second season in Seattle after transferring from Kentucky. He leads the team with an average of 20.6 ppg. He is the team’s best three-point shooter among guys who have taken at least 22 three-point attempts. He’s shooting 43.1% from beyond the arc. But he isn’t just an outside guy. Brooks is also Washington’s leading rebounder with an average of 7.2 per game.

The other starting forward for Washington is grad transfer Moses Wood, who joined the Huskies this year after playing at Tulane, UNLV, and Portland the past two seasons. Wood is Washington’s third-best scorer with an average of 11.1 ppg.

Guard Sahvir Wheeler joined Washington this season after starting his collegiate career at Georgia and playing at Kentucky the past two seasons. He’s the second-best scorer on the Huskies with an average of 15.8 ppg. His 99 assists leads the team leader and, in fact, totals more than the next two guys combined. He also has 15 steals, which is the second-most on the team.

Grad transfer Paul Mulcahy comes to Washington from Rutgers. Mulcahy’s average of 5.9 ppg is the second-worst among the Husky starters, but he is ranked third on the team in steals with ten and he has the second-most assists with 59.

Senior center Braxton Meah is in his second season in Seattle after starting at Fresno State. Meah is only averaging 4.0 ppg and 12.9 minutes per game, but he did score ten points against Arizona State in 31.4 minutes on Thursday night.

Speaking of Thursday’s game, sophomore guard Koren Johnson was the only Husky reserve to play more than nine minutes against the Sun Devils. He scored nine points in 25.5 minutes.

Washington’s three other reserves totaled just two points in a combined 18 minutes of play.

Analysis

While Washington doesn’t seem to be a competitor for the conference title this year, I can’t get past the experience of the Huskies’ starters. I don’t think the youthful Bruins will be much of a match to those starters.

Personally, while I expect Washington to beat the Bruins for just the ninth time in Westwood since 1936, it shouldn’t be any worse than Thursday’s loss to the Utes.

Listen to the Game With TMB

This afternoon’s game will be on Pac-12 Networks with Roxy Bernstein and Don MacLean 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 today’s game online.

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

UCLA Men’s Basketball (6-10, 1-4)

Opponent: Washington Huskies (10-6, 2-3)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 107-43.
When: 4:00 pm PT, Sunday, January 14, 2024
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Pac-12 Networks National, Los Angeles and Washington with Roxy Bernstein and Don MacLean
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 1150 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 373 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Washington

Go Bruins!!!

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