How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins vs Lehigh Mountain Hawks
The Bruins will look to keep growing with another cupcake game.
The UCLA Bruins continue their homestand tonight with a game against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. You might have heard of this school thanks to 2012, when the Mountain Hawks, led by future NBA star CJ McCollum, upset Duke in a 2-15 matchup. Coincidentally, that was the last time Lehigh made the NCAA Tournament, and they’ve been a middling team for most of their time.
Lehigh is coached by Brett Reed, who has been the coach at the school since 2007 when he was promoted from assistant coach. Reed has compiled a 276-242 record at the school, which is fairly good for the school, but he has not been able to parlay that into a bigger job. The Mountain Hawks have had a tough go of things recently, with only one winning season since 2019, and this season itself has not started well, with Lehigh entering this game 0-3. To be fair, two of those games were against Power Conference opponents in Northwestern and Georgetown, but the early results have not been encouraging.
UCLA is going to need to focus on Keith Higgins Jr. first and foremost. The senior guard leads the team with 18.3 PPG, with ridiculously good shooting numbers of 56.8% from the field and 61.3% from deep. Higgins isn’t the point guard, so they like to run him off screens and get him in motion to score from all levels. He’s also a great defender, likely the best on the team, so expect him to spend plenty of time on whichever guard gets hot.
Cam Gillus is the point guard here, and he’s very quick and good about getting into the lane against opponents. He’s not an exceptional shooter, and his size leaves a lot to be desired on defense, so he’s definitely exploitable, but his speed is of the type that has given the Bruins trouble in the past. He’s tied for second in points per game with the third starting guard, Tyler Whitney-Sidney, at 11 points apiece. Whitney-Sidney has not been a consistent shooting threat this year but has the range to shoot from distance, so I imagine the Bruins will refrain from sagging off him too much.
Rounding out the starting group is Hank Alvey and Ben Knostman. Alvey is the team’s post player, but at 6’9” he is on the smaller side. He’s not very athletic and is not much of a rim protector, but he has a decent amount of post moves in his bag. Knostman is more of a glue guy than anything; he doesn’t really shoot the ball and has average athleticism, and at 6’4” is again on the smaller side for a wing.
That’s where UCLA is going to have the biggest advantage: Lehigh is really small. Only one member of their starting lineup is over 6’5”, and the bench rotation has only one big of that size in 6’11” Tommy Coniff. This is the game that UCLA really needs to dominate on the boards, as they’ll be throwing a lineup at Lehigh that can completely outsize the Mountain Hawks without sacrificing athleticism. I don’t think it will particularly matter if Dylan Andrews is available for this game, but it would be good for Skyy Clark in particular to show improved defensive effort, and it would be good to see the wings and bigs dominate for a game.
Just like with Monday’s game, UCLA should not really be in danger of losing this one. The biggest thing to watch for is general improvement and more connectivity on both ends of the court. It is one thing to work on those things in practice, but putting it in game action can take time for a new team regardless of the talent.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Tonight’s game will be on B1G+ with Jonah Malkin and Giordano Camera calling the game. If you prefer, you can listen to Nick Coop 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 todays’s game online.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball at Washington Huskies game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (2-1)
Opponent: Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-3)
Series Record: First-ever meeting
When: 7:00 pm PT, Friday, November 15, 2024
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Westwood, CA
TV: B1G+ with Jonah Malkin and Giordano Camera
Live Stream: B1G+
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: No local radio this week due to football happening at the same time
Online: uclabruins.com with Nick Coop and Tracy Murray
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
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