Jaylen Clark led the Bruins with 17 points on Monday against Sacramento State. (Photo Credit: Scott Chandler/uclabruins.com)
Tonight, the #8/7 UCLA Bruins host the Long Beach State 49ers at Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 8 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network National and Los Angeles.
It’s the second year in a row that the Bruins will host Long Beach State. This game has become an almost annual occurrence, at least on the schedule. That’s because the game was postponed twice during the 2020-21 season and it was not made up.
UCLA won last year’s game 100 to 79. While I’m sure Mick Cronin wasn’t particularly happy about giving up 79 points, it’s hard to complain about it because the Bruins got into triple digits.
Long Beach State opened the season with a non-conference road win over Cal Baptist, 79-64. Three sophomores led the way for LBSU on Monday. Lassina Traore debuted with a double-double and led the way for the 49ers with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Jadon Jones also scored 13 points, while Tone Hunter had six assists in his first Division I game after playing last season at Garden CIty CC.
Head coach Dan Monson is back for his 15th season with Long Beach State. Look for his guys to play with three guards and two forwards, at least to start the game. Lassina Traore won’t be the only guy from the Ivory Coast on the floor for Long Beach State tonight with that last name. The team’s other starting forward is Aboubacar Traore, but they are not brothers. Last season, Aboubacar finished the year with an average of 8.3 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game and he led the team with 41 blocks.
The other two guards joining Jones as the team’s starting trio are junior Marcus Tsohonis and senior Joel Murray. Tsohonis played at two schools previously. He spent the 2021-22 campaign with VCU after playing for two seasons with the Washington Huskies. Murray was the Big West’s leading scorer a season ago with an average of 16.7 points per game in conference action.
Look for Hunter to be one of the first men off the bench for Monson after his performance earlier this week. Junior Amari Stroud and redshirt freshman guard AJ George should also see plenty of playing time. Hunter, George and Stroud accounted for 22 of the team’s 29 bench points against Cal Baptist.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball season opener game thread. Here’s how to watch tonight’s game.
#8/7 UCLA Men’s Basketball (1-0)
Opponent: Long Beach State 49ers (1-0)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 19-1
When: 8:00 pm PT, Friday, November 11, 2022
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Pac-12 Networks National and Los Angeles with JB Long and Don MacLean
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The officiating has been so bad I almost think Mick talked to the refs before the game and asked them to call it ridiculously tight as a learning experience.
U!
Ouch! Even I felt that last foul on Clark!
Our defense looking good these last few minutes :-)
Dammit, Amari Bailey looks like he pulled something on that missed layup.
Boma looks like a man among boys out there! Glad to see the NCAA actually let him play tonight -_-
Amari needs to relax a bit.
Jaquez with the 3!
transition!
So far so good. Good night, Mighty Bruins, I'm still recovering and it is late. Go Bruins!
Nice post-up by Boma-- sweet soft touch
6 fouls called in 2 minutes...
It's so great seeing Clark's defense and Singleton's touch from 3 so early in the season :-)
Great fast break!
Nice 3 by Singleton!
The officiating has been so bad I almost think Mick talked to the refs before the game and asked them to call it ridiculously tight as a learning experience.