How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins vs Washington Huskies
The first Big Ten home game for the Bruins comes against a familiar opponent.
Do you feel it in the air? It’s that wonderful feeling when UCLA finally plays a Big Ten basketball game. The conference has long been one of the better basketball conferences in the country, and adding UCLA brings a major national power into the fold, so of course this is cause for celebration. And which storied Big Ten program is coming to Pauley Pavilion to ring in such a momentous occasion?
Washington.
Well, can’t all be winners.
Yes, this is a familiar foe for the Bruins, but this Washington team has a fairly new look compared to years past, starting with new head coach Danny Sprinkle. Sprinkle was one of the hottest names on the coaching market this past cycle after an excellent season at Utah State, but he has a mountain to climb to rebuild Washington’s culture after years of undisciplined play under Mike Hopkins.
He has help on that front with Great Osobor. The $2 Million Dollar Man has traveled with Sprinkle throughout his rise up the ladder, starting with him at Montana State then playing last year at Utah State under him before transferring to Washington this offseason. Osobor is a true post player despite his size, as he’s a ferocious rebounder and has a bevy of low post moves to really put defenders in trouble. One of the things Osobor is excellent at is drawing fouls on opponents, so UCLA is going to have to try and defend him without fouling. Osobor isn’t a great free throw shooter, but considering he’s averaging 9.9 attempts on the season, he’s definitely a volume guy. Interestingly enough, Osobor is also the team leader in assists with 3.9, which feels like an example of teams focusing on defending him too much and leaving other players open.
The other major scoring threat for Washington is Tyler Harris. Harris is listed as a guard but at 6’8” he’s definitely more of a forward. That said, Harris is much more of an outside shooter than Osobor, being second on the team in attempts per game and hitting his outside shots at an impressive 48% clip. He’s also the second-leading rebounder on the team and, interestingly enough, their best shot blocker, as he operates similarly to Jaylen Clark in the past, coming off the help side to get his blocks and affect things defensively.
The third leg of the offense is freshman Zoom Diallo. Diallo is quick and is a great slasher, though not much of a true point guard, which is fine since Sprinkle’s offense does not require much of one. He’s not a three-point shooter by any stretch, so the key for the Bruins will be sticking on him defensively and keeping him in front. Of Washington’s main group of players, he’s by far the worst defender, often falling asleep and allowing easy points.
Tyree Ihenacho typically handles whatever point guard duties there are, and while he’s not much of a scoring threat, he can hit open shots and does a good job of rebounding and playing defense. The last starter, Luis Kortright, is their glue guy, again not much of a scorer but will bring the hustle on every play.
The bench for Washington will consist of some combination of Mekhi Mason, DJ Davis, and Wilhelm Breidenbach. Mason and Davis are more outside shooters, with Davis launching over 5.7 shots a game from behind the arc, though he’s only hit on 29.4% of them. Breidenbach will sub on the interior for Washington, and he’s mostly a warm body at this point.
The biggest wild card is the status of Franck Kepnang. The 6’11” center is talented and changes the complexion of games when he is in, but he’s only played in two games so far this year and there are rumors that he is dealing with an injury. If he can play, that gives UCLA a major challenge to defend (and likely will be a major test for both William Kyle III and Aday Mara to see how ready they are).
That said, Washington is not a great shooting team overall, shooting 42.3% from the field on the season and 31.6% from three. The Huskies are doing things similarly to what Cronin liked to do on offense during the Jaquez/Juzang era, which was running ball screens to generate an isolation matchup they liked and then go to work. This will be a good test of the UCLA defense to see if their improvement is for real or mostly noise from a weak schedule (it should be noted that Washington’s 6-1 record has been generated against a schedule even weaker than the one UCLA has played, so it will be hard to read either team). Defensively, the Huskies will try to stick with man but will throw in a zone now and then as a changeup.
As a step up in competition level, Washington does represent a nice step up from what UCLA has been playing, but they don’t project as anything beyond average at the Power Five level. If UCLA really has improved, and the underlying metrics indicate that they have, this should be a game UCLA wins comfortably, but that’s the beauty of conference games, isn’t it?
Listen to the Game With TMB
Tonight’s game will be on FS1 with Trent Rush and Casey Jacobson 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 (6-1,0-0)
Opponent: Washington Huskies (6-1, 0-0)
Series Record: UCLA leads 108-44
When: 7:30 pm PT, Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Fox Sports 1 with Trent Rush and Casey Jacobsen
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: AM 1150 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
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My one comment so far is that Cronin really needs to get over his love for Clark. He’s the weakest perimeter defender and if his shot isn’t falling (or if he’s not even willing to shoot when open) then he’s a liability on the court.
My rough estimation from the stands is that UCLA would be up 30 if anyone could hit a free throw.
They’d also be up 30 if Clark wasn’t playing so much and allowing Washington to go on runs but thems the breaks.