How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: #11/8 UCLA Bruins at Washington Huskies

Jan 1, 2023

Jaylen Clark is one of six Bruins shooting 50% or better from the field. (Photo Credit: Jan Kim Lim/uclabruins.com)

This afternoon, the Bruins will look to complete a road sweep of the Washington schools when they face the Huskies on Pac-12 Networks. Today’s tip-off is at 4 pm PT.

Washington dropped to 1-2 in conference play on Thursday when they lost to Southern Cal, 80-67. In that game, the Huskies struggled at the end of both halves. They were up 28-27 before allowing 14 points in the final six and a half minutes of the first half. At the same time, they only managed to score six points themselves and trailed 41-34 at the break.

The second half actually saw the Huskies come back and re-take the lead with 10:52 to go, but, again, they faded down the stretch as they were outscored 23-9 in the final ten minutes of the game. What really stands out, though, is the fact that Southern Cal outshot the Huskies 45.9% to 32.4%.

Washington head coach Mike Hopkins may find himself on the hot seat if the Huskies don’t play better in conference play. Despite being 9-5, none of their wins have really been quality wins. In fact, they’ve lost to the only two ranked opponents they’ve played and today’s game should add a third to that list.

Let’s look at Washington’s starting five.

The Huskies only have two guys who are averaging in double figures. The first is senior forward Keion Brooks, Jr., who leads the team with 17.1 ppg. Brooks also leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game.

Senior guard Cole Bajema is the other guy on the team averaging more than ten points per game with 10.5 ppg.

Two other starters are close to double figures. Freshman guard Kenyon Menifield is scoring 9.4 ppg while junior center Braxton Meah is averaging 9.0 ppg. The Huskies’ fifth starter is senior PJ Fuller II, who leads the team in steals with 20 and is averaging 8.1 ppg.

There is one area where the Huskies seem to excel and that’s in blocked shots. Brooks, Meah, Fuller and reserve center Franck Kepnang all have more than 10 blocks each and Meah leads the team with 19.

While defense is certainly important, basketball is a game of scoring and it won’t matter much how many shots the Huskies block if the Bruins hit their shots and the Bruins have been shooting almost 50% from the field.

Listen to the Game With TMB

Today’s game will be on Pac-12 Networks with Ted Robinson and national treasure Bill Walton calling the game. Personally, I’m not sure why you would want to turn down the volume and not listen to Big Red. Josh Lewin is back from the Sun Bowl, though, and he’ll be joined by Tracy Murray as usual. 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 today’s game:

UCLA Basketball (12-2, 3-0)

Opponent: Washington Huskies (9-5, 1-2)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 105-43
When: 4:00 pm PT, Sunday, January 1, 2023
Where: Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, WA
TV: Pac-12 Networks National, Los Angeles and Washington with Ted Robinson and Bill Walton
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Radio/Audio:
Local Radio: AM 570 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 83 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Washington

Go Bruins!!!

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77 Comments

fruithi

fruithi’s Substack

Jan 1, 2023

Awesome. Thank you very much.

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