UCLA started in 1881 as the Southern Branch of the California State Normal School (now SJSU), absorbed by UC in 1919 as Southern Branch of UC, 1927 renamed University of California at Los Angeles. Ranked by USN&WR as No. 1 public university, No. 15 overall. Enrollment 47,518 (32,121 undergrad) – most applied to university in US. Endowment $6.7B, 467 acres in Westwood, CA. Colors: Blue & Gold, Nickname Bruins, Mascots Joe & Josephine Bruin, fight songs Sons of Westwood and Mighty Bruins.
Famous alumni include Carol Burnett, Francis Ford Coppola, John Williams, Lloyd & Beau Bridges, George Takei, Randall Park, Giada De Laurentis et al.
UCLA has a rich athletic history: UCLA Athletic HOF includes icons Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner.
UCLA has 121 NCAA championships, 2nd to Stanford’s 128, SC 3rd with 124; 270 Olympic medals - 136 gold, 71 silver, 63 bronze.
Basketball established 1919 (1931-877, .688), 11 NCAA titles (last 1995), Runners-up (1980, 2006), 19 Final Fours, 23 Elite Eights, 35 Sweet Sixteen’s, 54 NCAA appearances, 38 conf. championships, 4 conf tournament champs, 21 Consensus AA’s, 36 NBA 1st rd picks, 8 NBA MVP (6 by Kareem, Walton, Westbrook), 9 Naismith HOF’rs (John Wooden, Kareem, Don Barksdale, Larry Brown, Denny Crum, Gail Goodrich, Reggie Miller, Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes), 10 retired numbers (Barksdale, Goodrich, Ed O’Bannon, Miller, Walton, Kareem, Sidney Wicks, Walt Hazzard, Wilkes, Marques Johnson), 15 current NBA players.
Notable coaches by wins (620- Wooden, 233- Ben Howland, 192- Jim Harrick). Current coach Mick Cronin (5th season) UCLA: 106-46, Final Four 2021, Sweet Sixteen (2022, 2023), previous Cincinnati 296-147, Murray St 69-24 – Career 472-218 (.684). Pac-12 COY 2019-20, 2022-23, AAC COY 2014, OVC COY 2006
UCLA leads SC all-time 146-116 (.557), but is 4-6 in last 10 and 3-6 under Cronin.
UCLA is 8-11 (3-5) (W: St. Francis, Lafayette, Long Island U, Chaminade, UCR, Oregon St, UW, ASU; L: Marquette, Gonzaga, Villanova, Ohio St, CSUN, Maryland, Oregon, Stanford, Cal, Utah, Arizona), NET 149, KenPom 108
SC is 8-11 (2-6) (W: K-State, CSUB, Brown, Seton Hall, EWU, AL State, Cal, Stanford; L: UCI, OK, Gonzaga, LBSU, Auburn, Oregon, OSU, WSU, Colorado, AZ, ASU), NET 90, KenPom 81
UCLA scores: 64.8 ppg (+0.0), 41.5% FG, 29.4% 3FG, 4.7 3’s/g, 71.9% FT. Rebounds 34.8 rpg (+2.2), Assists 11.4 apg, TOs 12.2 pg (+0.0), 13.5 ppg/TO, Steals 6.1, Blks 3.8
UCLA Leaders
Scoring: Sebastian Mack 14.1ppg (37.9% FG, 25.5% 3FG, 76.4% FT), Adem Bona 11.7 ppg (59.1% FG, 0-1 3FG, 64.9% FT), Lazar Stefanovic 10.0 ppg (33.9% FG, 31.6% 3FG, 85.1% FT), Dylan Andrews 9.8 ppg (35.7% FG, 25.7% 3FG, 75.0% FT)
Rebounds: Bona 6.3 pg, Stefanovic 5.6, Assists - Dylan Andrews 3.4 pg, Steals - Mack 1.6 pg, Blks – Bona 1.9 pg (No. 2 Pac)
SC scores: 75.7 ppg (+0.5), 44.9% FG, 35.6% 3FG, 8.2 3’s/g, 70.6% FT. Rebs 36.6 rpg, Assists 15.4 apg, TOs 12.2 pg (+0.0), 13.5 ppg/TO Steals 6.9, Blks 4.5
SC Leaders
Scoring: Boogie 18.7 ppg (No. 4 Pac) (46.1% FG, 45.5% 3FG, 74.1% FT), Collier 15.4 ppg (50.6% FG, 31.3% 3FG, 66.3% FT), Kobe 11.6 ppg (37.8% FG, 28% 3FG, 76.2% FT)
Rebounds: Vince 4.9 pg, DJ 4.7, Kobe 4.6, Assists Collier 4.1 apg (No. 6 Pac), Kobe 3.5, Steals Kobe 2.2 (No. 2 Pac), Blks – Josh 2.2 (No. 1 Pac)
Enfield is 6-3 against Cronin and SC has won 5 straight at Galen: 2023 (71-64) Boogie career high 31 pts, 2022 (67-64) Drew season high 21 pts, 2021 (66-48) Ethan Anderson career high 19 pts, 5 3’s, 2020 (54-52) Jonah Mathews game winning 3, 2019 (80-67) Bennie Buckets 21 pts. 2021 also featured Tajh Eaddy’s buzzer beating 3 for a 64-63 win at Pauley!
In the last several games without our 2 best scorers and ball handlers, our lack of ball handling has been exposed. If Boogie can’t play today = No Chance. The last 2 games, our bigs have stepped up. Vince had 14 pts & career high 12 rebs vs. ASU, averaging 10 & 8.7 last 3 games. Let’s see how they do today.
Sellers needs to shoot more 3’s instead of driving. Boogie leads with 45.5% 3FG, Oziyah is next at 41.0%, but with only 39 attempts, Boogie has 112, Kobe 82, Rodman 60, Collier and Hornery 48.
Pregame
The student line outside is outrageous, videos from 3 hrs before tip show the line going down the side of Galen to Flower, past the USC Hotel parking garage, and back up Exposition toward Figueroa. Non-student lines not as long as the women’s rivalry game.
Founders’ Room is near full. I spy former players Jacque Hill, Chris Penrose – wait! who let the bruins in?! About a 4’s-Down worth here. In a bit of a surprise, head coach Andy Enfield makes his first appearance of the season to face the donors. Will they vent their frustrations, ask how secure he felt in his job, ask whether Jen Cohen has scheduled meeting with him? Inexplicably, there are no tough questions and Andy’s exit was quick.
He was dressed dapperly, but in tennis shoes. He explained it was “Suits & Sneakers” day for coaches across the U.S. to support Coaches vs. Cancer and raise money for cancer research. Their annual golf tourney in Vegas raises > $1M / yr. We are hosting some cancer survivors, including a couple of kids recently released from Children’s Hospital of LA.
He says injuries/illness have prevented them from having full 5v5 scrimmages, making it tough to practice effectively. Josh lost 15 lbs and is trying to gain them back. Isaiah is out until he can grip the ball with his surgically repaired right hand and Boogie hasn’t practiced in 3 wks but will try to play and handle lead guard responsibilities. Andy says there’ve been great rivalry games over the yrs and this should be a close one. He hopes they play hard, play great defense and hit a few shots with the game on the line. They haven’t scored 70 pts last 4 games and he hopes today will change that. The emphasis in practice was to keep Adem Bona away from the basket, play defense without fouling and jump out on their 3-pt shooters.
The arena is already packed when we enter (announced 10,300 - a real butts in the seats sellout with people in the Suites and SRO), media tables are full, an ESPN reporter is looking for a spot. NBA scouts are here - behind me are scouts for the Clippers and Mavs. Bill Walton is providing analysis for ESPN – I wonder if he’s still calling the Pac-12 “The Conference of Champions,” since only WSU and OSU will be left. Mark Sanchez (aka Baby Alien from Masked Singer) is here with wife Perry Mattfield (actress/producer/SC alum & Song Girl). They’re seated next to former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen, once teammates with Dennis Rodman, and whose son Justin was teammates with Bronny at Sierra Canyon. Making his first appearance of the season is former SC and NFL DL Al Cowlings, infamously the driver of the White Bronco in the OJ Simpson car chase. Actress (12 Years a Slave, A Wrinkle in Time, A Cross to Bear, etc.) and recent Emmy winner (The Last of Us) SC alum Storm Reid is also in the house.
The Game
I was hoping to be at my word limit for posting by now so I wouldn’t have to talk about the game, but I’m not, so I will.
Boogie starts at PG with Kobe & DJ. Enfield is going with twin towers Josh & Vince. It starts out well. Boogie hits his first shot from distance, like he never missed any time. He hits another deep 3 and SC grabs the lead 8-7. A third Boogie score puts SC up 11-10. Except for a missed dunk by Josh and a stupid taunting foul on Bronny after blocking Dylan Andrews shot all the way to Westwood, SC was still OK, gaining their biggest lead 22-15 at 7:29. Then UCLA went on a 22-4 run to end the half up 37-26. SC outshot the bruins 42.9% FG to 40%, 75% 3FG to 50% and 83.3% FT to 66.7% and had EIGHT blks in the first half, so how were they trailing? SC got killed on the boards allowing for 15 more UCLA shots. For the game SC was outrebounded 43-29.
Long story short, SC loses 65-50 and is now 0-9 when trailing at the half. Boogie’s 8 pts in the 1st half were all he would get, despite playing 35 mins, as Cronin’s defense showed up and denied Boogie the ball repeatedly in the 2nd half.
Final stats:
UCLA: 35.7% FG (20-56), 43.8% 3FG (7-16), 75% FT (18-24), 43 rebs, 13 Assists, 10 TO, 4 blks, 5 steals
Andrews game high 20 pts, Stefanovic 17 pts (incl. 9-9 FT), Bona 10
SC: 35.4% FG (17-48), 46.2% 3FG (6-13), 62.5% FT (10-16), 29 rebs,12 Assists, 8 TO, 10 blks, 4 steals
Oziyah led SC and only took 3 shots! He had 10 pts on 3-3 FG, 2-2 3FG, 2-2 FT. Boogie and Kobe had 8 pts and Kijani 6.
SC’s 50 pts were a season low, the lowest vs UCLA since 2012 (40). SC has lost 5 consecutive games for the first time since 2015 (9). This team has a low basketball IQ, they fouled a 3-pt shooter three different times and paid for it. The throw weak passes, neglect to box out and are easily burned on back doors and alley oops.
Enfield’s SC record drops to 213-141 and he may not reach Bob Boyd’s 216 wins this season. Sam Barry is SC’s all-time wins leader with 260, Forrest Twogood is second with 251.
Post-game Boogie said “We’ve gotta have some more pride. At the end of the day, we had a lot of guys on last year’s team who really knew how much it meant to us. I feel like we just gotta establish the culture. We got a lot of young guys now. We just gotta want it more.”
USC falls to 8-12 (2-7) and UCLA goes to 9-11 (4-5). SC is dead last in the conference and UCLA is tied with Cal for ninth.
USC’s next game will be on Feb. 1 at Galen at 7:30 pm vs. Oregon (14-6, 6-3), tied with AZ for conference lead. The game airs on ESPN. I wish it was on Pac-12 network so nobody would see it (sigh).
UCLA fans (small turnout) didn’t have to say it, but I will “Just Like Football!” High pre-season expectations, but not met.
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