UCLA started in 1881 as the Southern Branch of the California State Normal School (now SJSU), Los Angeles branch opened 1882, on site of Central Library of the LA Public Library system. The facility included a demo school where teachers-in-training could practice their techniques with children. That elementary school became the present day UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the branch changed its name to Los Angeles State Normal School. In 1914, the school moved to a Vermont Avenue (site of LACC). In 1919 the school moved to Westwood and became the Southern Branch of UC, 1927 renamed University of California at Los Angeles.
Today UCLA has 467 acres, Enrollment of 48,048 (33,040 undergrad) – the most applied to university in US, Endowment $3.9B, USN&WR’s No. 1 public university, No. 15 overall, WSJ No. 68
Famous alumni include 16 Nobel laureates, Carol Burnett, Francis Ford Coppola, composer John Williams, Former LA Mayor Tom Bradley, James Dean, Lloyd & Beau Bridges, James Coburn, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Sean Astin, Jayne Mansfield, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Randall Park, Mayim Bialik, Justine Batemen, James Franco, Steve Martin, Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, Corbin Bernsen, Robert Englund, Ben Stiller, Brad Garrett, Mark Harmon, Michael Warren, Mila Kunis, Heather Locklear, Gabrielle Union, singer Sara Bareilles, chef Giada De Laurentis, model Emily Ratajkowski, news anchor Tritia Toyota, WWII’s Tokyo Rose, Watergate conspirators HR Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, former Ram Darryl Henley – convicted drug trafficker who tried to hire hit man in prison, double murderer Bai Xiodong
UCLA Athletics: UCLA has 124 NCAA championships (+22 non-NCAA titles), 2nd to Stanford 136 NCAA (+31 non-NCAA), SC 3rd 113 NCAA (+23 non-NCAA,) 284 Olympic medals - 141 gold, 74 silver and 69 bronze.
UCLA Athletic HOF includes icons Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner, Red Sanders, Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Andy Banachowski, Jimmy Connors, Karch Kiraly, Sinjin Smith, Chris Chambliss, Terry Donahue, Rams coach Tommy Prothro, Dick Vermeil, Kenny Easley, Rams QB/ Coach Bob Waterfield, Ram WR Tom Fears, Lisa Fernandez, Natalie Williams, Dodger Eric Karros, SC volleyball coach Jeff Nygaard, SC LB coach Ken Norton, Jr., Jonathan Ogden, Ram RB Wendell Tyler, Chase Utley, Todd Zeile
Colors: True blue & gold, nickname Bruins, Mascots Joe & Josephine Bruin, fight songs Sons of Westwood and Mighty Bruins.
Basketball established 1919 (1931-877, .688), 11 NCAA titles (last 1995), Runners-up (1980, 2006), 19 Final Fours (last 2021), 23 Elite Eights, 35 Sweet Sixteen’s, 54 NCAA appearances, 38 conf. championships, 4 conf tournament champs, 21 Consensus AA’s, 41 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. Former SC Coach Henry Bibby was inducted into the UCLA HOF in 2004
Winningest coaches: John Wooden 620-147, .808, Ben Howland 233-107, .685, Jim Harrick 192-62, .756.
Currently: Mick Cronin (6th yr) UCLA: 127-59, .683, 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 147-117 (.557) but is 5-7 in last 12 and 4-7 under Cronin (all vs. Enfield)
UCLA is 14-6 (5-4) (W: Rider, BU, Lehigh, ID St, CSUF, So. UT, UW, Oregon, Arizona, Prairie View A&M, Gonzaga, Iowa, Wisc., UW; L: New Mexico, UNC, Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers)
SC is 12-7 (4-4) (W: Chattanooga, ID St, UTA, SJSU, Grambling, UW, Mont St, CSUN, Southern, #13 Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska; L: Cal, SMC, NM, Oregon, Mich, Indiana, Wisc.)
UCLA NET 34, KenPom 30, SC NET 71, Ken Pom 65
UCLA scores: 75.6 ppg (+11.1), 46.7% FG, 34.1% 3FG, 7.0 3’s/g, 70.3% FT. Rebounds 32.9 rpg (+1.9), Assists 15.8 apg; TOs 11.6 pg (+5.1), 20.5 ppg/TO, Steals 8.7, Blks 2.7
UCLA Leaders
Scoring: Tyler Bilodeau 13.9 ppg (50.5% FG, 39.6% 3FG, 71.7% FT), Eric Dailey Jr 11.7 ppg (51.9% FG, 35.3 3FG, 73.6% FT), Sebastian Mack 10.2 ppg (42.6% FG, 28.2% 3FG, 74.4% FT), Kobe Johnson 8.0 ppg (44.5% FG, 35.6% 3FG, 69.6% FT), Dylan Andrews 7.4 ppg (41.7% FG, 32.2% 3FG, 57.1% FT), Skyy Clark 7.3 ppg (44.2% FG, 37.3% 3FG, 74.2% FT)
Rebounds: Kobe 5.9 pg, Bilodeau 4.6; Assists - Kobe 3.1 pg, Clark 2.8, Andrews 2.7; Steals - Kobe 1.9 pg, Blks – Aday Mara 1.3
SC scores: 77.1 ppg (+4.7), 48.2% FG, 34.8% 3FG, 6.4 3’s/g, 74.4% FT; Rebs 32.5 rpg (+0.7); Assists 15.9 apg, TOs 11.7 pg (+1.4), 15.8 ppg/TO; Steals 6.6; Blks 2.8
SC Leaders
Scoring: Claude 16.3 ppg (49.8% FG, 32.1% 3FG, 76.8% FT), Agbo 11.9 (38.9% FG, 36.9% 3FG, 86.5% FT), Saint 11.0 (47.2% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 64.9% FT), Yates 11.0 (48.1% FG, 35.1% 3FG, 77.8% FT), Cohen 7.7 (62.2% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 75.6% FT), Agee 6.2 (53.9% FG, 45.5% 3FG, 83.3% FT)
Rebounds: Saint 6.0, Agbo 4.9; Assists Claude 4.2, Saint 4.1; Steals Saint 1.4, Yates 1.3; Blks Agee 0.5, Patton 0.5
Pregame
No Founder’s reports for the rest of the home games, due to a surgery I underwent the day of this game (recovery 4-6 wks). My apologies.
Ucla is on a 3-game win streak and is looking like a gritty Mick Cronin team. They lead B1G in scoring defense (64.5 ppg), rank 2nd in steals (8.7) and 8th nationality in TO’s forced (16.6), 10th in TO margin (5.1). Kobe the traitor leads with 37 steals (6th in B1G) and 2.07 assist-to-TO ratio (11th in B1G). He is basically the same player, but he is scoring less and rebounding the same as last season at SC. The grass is not always greener. He showed no class with some of the gestures and taunting directed at the fans, fans that supported him for 3 yrs. Not sure where all his animus comes from. In the game he fouled out in 28 mins, with 7 pts, 3 rebs, 2 assists, 2 TOs and 1 steal. Not exactly a DPOY performance. Good riddance!
DJ Malski is back and makes a difference in getting the crowd hyped. Brandon Granville, Jeff Trepagnier and Nick Young are in the building. Ucla fans are here early and SC students have filled up the lower student section, with some in the upper overflow sections. SC fans/alumni are typically late arriving. Of the announced 7532 fans, only a few hundred are in blue.
The Game
Kobe is booed in warm-ups, in introductions and every time he touched the ball during the game. He deserved everything he got.
SC Starters: Des, Saint, Wes, Buzo, Josh
Looks like leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau (11th in B1G in FG%) is sitting this one out, his ankle apparently not ready to go.
Chibuzo has the ball off the tip, but is immediately turned over by Dailey, who converts a dunk for a 2-0 bruin lead. SC answers with a pair of 3s from Saint and Claude for a 6-2 lead at 17:45. 4 pts would be the largest lead of the half for SC. ucla’s largest first half lead was 6 pts at 4:48 (31-25). There were no ties in this game. Clark Slajchert’s 3FG at 2:35 was the last 3 of the half for SC who made 6, 2x as many as ucla, but ucla made 2 more FGs, 5 more FTs to go into the locker room up 42-37.
1st half stats:
UCLA shot: 68.2% FG (15-22), 60% 3FG (3-5), 100% FT (9-9)
SC shot: 52% FG (13-25), 41.2% 3FG (6-13), 80% FT (4-4)
2nd Half
The bruins come out fast in the 2nd half scoring the first 6 pts, with Mara hitting a layup at 17:06. SC really could not stop the 7’3” Spaniard in the paint with 6’8” Agee. He dunks without jumping. He went on to score 12 pts w/ 11 rebs & 5 blks in 28 min. On the flip side Agee had his way with Mara and company by scoring a game high 21 pts on 8/12 FG, 5/8 FT. If he had shot 3-ptrs like he has recently, he would have made an even bigger impact, but he went 0/4 with 3 airballs.
A tip-in by Mara at 15:21 gave ucla their biggest lead 52-40. They maintained the lead and got it up to 12 pts once again at 9:34 on a pair of FTs by former Trojan commit Trent Perry who went 5-5 from the line. This Trojan team is never out of it and fights back to whittle the score to 70-68 after a much-needed Agbo 3, his 2nd (2-6 3FG, 6 pts) – we need him to score much more and await his next hot streak, as he has been cold lately.
At 1:54 Yates hit 1-2 FT to cut the lead to 1, 73-72, unfortunately continuing a pattern of 1-2 at the line on the last 3 trips. The momentum swing of Thomas missing 2 FTs at 1:37 that could have given SC the lead to Mack hitting a 3FG from deep w/ 2 secs left on the shot clock was too much for SC. After Mack's 3FG, SC trailed 76-72 with 1:08. Agbo missed a 3FG on USC's next possession, and Mack clinched the Bruins win at the free throw line.
Final score was 82-76, breaking the Rule of 75, marking the first defeat when they scored 75 or more pts.
The refs were as bad as the old Pac-12 refs, because they are the old Pac-12 refs. One play that ticked me off was when Kobe leaped and kneed Buzo in the face, should’ve been a flagrant foul. I wish I had the stats to show that we never get the calls in our home arena.
Final stats:
UCLA shot: 54.9% FG (28-51), 37.5% 3FG (6-16), 80% FT (18-24), 29 rebs, 14 Assists, 9 TO, 5 blks, 6 steals
SC shot: 49.1% FG (27-55), 35.5% 3FG (11-31), 57.9% FT (11-19), 25 rebs,17 Assists, 10 TO, 4 steals, 0 blks
With the 82-76 loss, USC falls to 12- (4-5) and UCLA goes to 15-6 (6-4). SC is 11th (tied with OSU) in the conference and UCLA is in a 3-way tie for 5th place with Maryland & Illinois.
Up Next: Michigan St on Sat Feb 1st, 1:30 pm at Galen, or watch on Peacock.
Today UCLA has 467 acres, Enrollment of 48,048 (33,040 undergrad) – the most applied to university in US, Endowment $3.9B, USN&WR’s No. 1 public university, No. 15 overall, WSJ No. 68
Famous alumni include 16 Nobel laureates, Carol Burnett, Francis Ford Coppola, composer John Williams, Former LA Mayor Tom Bradley, James Dean, Lloyd & Beau Bridges, James Coburn, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Sean Astin, Jayne Mansfield, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Randall Park, Mayim Bialik, Justine Batemen, James Franco, Steve Martin, Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, Corbin Bernsen, Robert Englund, Ben Stiller, Brad Garrett, Mark Harmon, Michael Warren, Mila Kunis, Heather Locklear, Gabrielle Union, singer Sara Bareilles, chef Giada De Laurentis, model Emily Ratajkowski, news anchor Tritia Toyota, WWII’s Tokyo Rose, Watergate conspirators HR Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, former Ram Darryl Henley – convicted drug trafficker who tried to hire hit man in prison, double murderer Bai Xiodong
UCLA Athletics: UCLA has 124 NCAA championships (+22 non-NCAA titles), 2nd to Stanford 136 NCAA (+31 non-NCAA), SC 3rd 113 NCAA (+23 non-NCAA,) 284 Olympic medals - 141 gold, 74 silver and 69 bronze.
UCLA Athletic HOF includes icons Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence Griffith Joyner, Red Sanders, Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Andy Banachowski, Jimmy Connors, Karch Kiraly, Sinjin Smith, Chris Chambliss, Terry Donahue, Rams coach Tommy Prothro, Dick Vermeil, Kenny Easley, Rams QB/ Coach Bob Waterfield, Ram WR Tom Fears, Lisa Fernandez, Natalie Williams, Dodger Eric Karros, SC volleyball coach Jeff Nygaard, SC LB coach Ken Norton, Jr., Jonathan Ogden, Ram RB Wendell Tyler, Chase Utley, Todd Zeile
Colors: True blue & gold, nickname Bruins, Mascots Joe & Josephine Bruin, fight songs Sons of Westwood and Mighty Bruins.
Basketball established 1919 (1931-877, .688), 11 NCAA titles (last 1995), Runners-up (1980, 2006), 19 Final Fours (last 2021), 23 Elite Eights, 35 Sweet Sixteen’s, 54 NCAA appearances, 38 conf. championships, 4 conf tournament champs, 21 Consensus AA’s, 41 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. Former SC Coach Henry Bibby was inducted into the UCLA HOF in 2004
Winningest coaches: John Wooden 620-147, .808, Ben Howland 233-107, .685, Jim Harrick 192-62, .756.
Currently: Mick Cronin (6th yr) UCLA: 127-59, .683, 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 147-117 (.557) but is 5-7 in last 12 and 4-7 under Cronin (all vs. Enfield)
UCLA is 14-6 (5-4) (W: Rider, BU, Lehigh, ID St, CSUF, So. UT, UW, Oregon, Arizona, Prairie View A&M, Gonzaga, Iowa, Wisc., UW; L: New Mexico, UNC, Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers)
SC is 12-7 (4-4) (W: Chattanooga, ID St, UTA, SJSU, Grambling, UW, Mont St, CSUN, Southern, #13 Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska; L: Cal, SMC, NM, Oregon, Mich, Indiana, Wisc.)
UCLA NET 34, KenPom 30, SC NET 71, Ken Pom 65
UCLA scores: 75.6 ppg (+11.1), 46.7% FG, 34.1% 3FG, 7.0 3’s/g, 70.3% FT. Rebounds 32.9 rpg (+1.9), Assists 15.8 apg; TOs 11.6 pg (+5.1), 20.5 ppg/TO, Steals 8.7, Blks 2.7
UCLA Leaders
Scoring: Tyler Bilodeau 13.9 ppg (50.5% FG, 39.6% 3FG, 71.7% FT), Eric Dailey Jr 11.7 ppg (51.9% FG, 35.3 3FG, 73.6% FT), Sebastian Mack 10.2 ppg (42.6% FG, 28.2% 3FG, 74.4% FT), Kobe Johnson 8.0 ppg (44.5% FG, 35.6% 3FG, 69.6% FT), Dylan Andrews 7.4 ppg (41.7% FG, 32.2% 3FG, 57.1% FT), Skyy Clark 7.3 ppg (44.2% FG, 37.3% 3FG, 74.2% FT)
Rebounds: Kobe 5.9 pg, Bilodeau 4.6; Assists - Kobe 3.1 pg, Clark 2.8, Andrews 2.7; Steals - Kobe 1.9 pg, Blks – Aday Mara 1.3
SC scores: 77.1 ppg (+4.7), 48.2% FG, 34.8% 3FG, 6.4 3’s/g, 74.4% FT; Rebs 32.5 rpg (+0.7); Assists 15.9 apg, TOs 11.7 pg (+1.4), 15.8 ppg/TO; Steals 6.6; Blks 2.8
SC Leaders
Scoring: Claude 16.3 ppg (49.8% FG, 32.1% 3FG, 76.8% FT), Agbo 11.9 (38.9% FG, 36.9% 3FG, 86.5% FT), Saint 11.0 (47.2% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 64.9% FT), Yates 11.0 (48.1% FG, 35.1% 3FG, 77.8% FT), Cohen 7.7 (62.2% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 75.6% FT), Agee 6.2 (53.9% FG, 45.5% 3FG, 83.3% FT)
Rebounds: Saint 6.0, Agbo 4.9; Assists Claude 4.2, Saint 4.1; Steals Saint 1.4, Yates 1.3; Blks Agee 0.5, Patton 0.5
Pregame
No Founder’s reports for the rest of the home games, due to a surgery I underwent the day of this game (recovery 4-6 wks). My apologies.
Ucla is on a 3-game win streak and is looking like a gritty Mick Cronin team. They lead B1G in scoring defense (64.5 ppg), rank 2nd in steals (8.7) and 8th nationality in TO’s forced (16.6), 10th in TO margin (5.1). Kobe the traitor leads with 37 steals (6th in B1G) and 2.07 assist-to-TO ratio (11th in B1G). He is basically the same player, but he is scoring less and rebounding the same as last season at SC. The grass is not always greener. He showed no class with some of the gestures and taunting directed at the fans, fans that supported him for 3 yrs. Not sure where all his animus comes from. In the game he fouled out in 28 mins, with 7 pts, 3 rebs, 2 assists, 2 TOs and 1 steal. Not exactly a DPOY performance. Good riddance!
DJ Malski is back and makes a difference in getting the crowd hyped. Brandon Granville, Jeff Trepagnier and Nick Young are in the building. Ucla fans are here early and SC students have filled up the lower student section, with some in the upper overflow sections. SC fans/alumni are typically late arriving. Of the announced 7532 fans, only a few hundred are in blue.
The Game
Kobe is booed in warm-ups, in introductions and every time he touched the ball during the game. He deserved everything he got.
SC Starters: Des, Saint, Wes, Buzo, Josh
Looks like leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau (11th in B1G in FG%) is sitting this one out, his ankle apparently not ready to go.
Chibuzo has the ball off the tip, but is immediately turned over by Dailey, who converts a dunk for a 2-0 bruin lead. SC answers with a pair of 3s from Saint and Claude for a 6-2 lead at 17:45. 4 pts would be the largest lead of the half for SC. ucla’s largest first half lead was 6 pts at 4:48 (31-25). There were no ties in this game. Clark Slajchert’s 3FG at 2:35 was the last 3 of the half for SC who made 6, 2x as many as ucla, but ucla made 2 more FGs, 5 more FTs to go into the locker room up 42-37.
1st half stats:
UCLA shot: 68.2% FG (15-22), 60% 3FG (3-5), 100% FT (9-9)
SC shot: 52% FG (13-25), 41.2% 3FG (6-13), 80% FT (4-4)
2nd Half
The bruins come out fast in the 2nd half scoring the first 6 pts, with Mara hitting a layup at 17:06. SC really could not stop the 7’3” Spaniard in the paint with 6’8” Agee. He dunks without jumping. He went on to score 12 pts w/ 11 rebs & 5 blks in 28 min. On the flip side Agee had his way with Mara and company by scoring a game high 21 pts on 8/12 FG, 5/8 FT. If he had shot 3-ptrs like he has recently, he would have made an even bigger impact, but he went 0/4 with 3 airballs.
A tip-in by Mara at 15:21 gave ucla their biggest lead 52-40. They maintained the lead and got it up to 12 pts once again at 9:34 on a pair of FTs by former Trojan commit Trent Perry who went 5-5 from the line. This Trojan team is never out of it and fights back to whittle the score to 70-68 after a much-needed Agbo 3, his 2nd (2-6 3FG, 6 pts) – we need him to score much more and await his next hot streak, as he has been cold lately.
At 1:54 Yates hit 1-2 FT to cut the lead to 1, 73-72, unfortunately continuing a pattern of 1-2 at the line on the last 3 trips. The momentum swing of Thomas missing 2 FTs at 1:37 that could have given SC the lead to Mack hitting a 3FG from deep w/ 2 secs left on the shot clock was too much for SC. After Mack's 3FG, SC trailed 76-72 with 1:08. Agbo missed a 3FG on USC's next possession, and Mack clinched the Bruins win at the free throw line.
Final score was 82-76, breaking the Rule of 75, marking the first defeat when they scored 75 or more pts.
The refs were as bad as the old Pac-12 refs, because they are the old Pac-12 refs. One play that ticked me off was when Kobe leaped and kneed Buzo in the face, should’ve been a flagrant foul. I wish I had the stats to show that we never get the calls in our home arena.
Final stats:
UCLA shot: 54.9% FG (28-51), 37.5% 3FG (6-16), 80% FT (18-24), 29 rebs, 14 Assists, 9 TO, 5 blks, 6 steals
SC shot: 49.1% FG (27-55), 35.5% 3FG (11-31), 57.9% FT (11-19), 25 rebs,17 Assists, 10 TO, 4 steals, 0 blks
With the 82-76 loss, USC falls to 12- (4-5) and UCLA goes to 15-6 (6-4). SC is 11th (tied with OSU) in the conference and UCLA is in a 3-way tie for 5th place with Maryland & Illinois.
Up Next: Michigan St on Sat Feb 1st, 1:30 pm at Galen, or watch on Peacock.
