Tough road trip for Arizona Basketball starts with UCLA

Following a heartbreaking loss to Oregon, Arizona Basketball (14-7, 8-7) will have a tough challenge against the UCLA Bruins (14-5, 10-3).

It is gut-check time for the Arizona Basketball team as the Wildcats finally return to the court, albeit reeling a bit. Losers in four of their last six games, the challenge will be even greater this week too as the Wildcats will take on the top two teams in the conference, starting with UCLA.

Coming in, the Bruins will be looking for the season sweep of the Wildcats, having won their previous match-up, 81-76 in Tucson. That alone puts pressure on the Wildcats to win to avoid the sweep.

Arizona Wildcats

Perhaps luckily for us, the Bruins have run into some of their troubles of late as well. Despite beating Washington on Saturday, UCLA lost to Washington State 81-73 on Thursday, and they also lost to rival USC 66-48 the week prior. However, the Bruins still have a lot of talent.

Doing it on both ends of the floor, UCLA has mostly been led by Johnny Juzang, Chris Smith, Jaime Jaquez, and Tyger Campbell this season. And the last time these two teams met, all had big games except for Smith who will make his first appearance against the Wildcats this season.

To make things even more challenging, UCLA has had the Wildcats’ number of late, so I imagine this one isn’t going to come easy.

If the Wildcats are to come away with the victory over UCLA, these are the Keys to the Game:

DEFENSE: Once again, Arizona’s defense failed in the crucial moments of their loss to Oregon on Saturday. Just needing one or two stops, the Wildcats were unable to slow the Ducks down. Against UCLA, they will be presented with a tough challenge again.

The Wildcats are going to need to play one of their best games of the season if they are to come away with a win, and to me, it starts with the defense.

Bench Production: Arizona needs to find more consistent scoring options outside of James Akinjo, Ben Mathurin, and even Azoulas Tubelis. If Arizona is going to come away with the win against UCLA, the bench production is going to have to be there.

So far, Arizona’s bench has largely been inconsistent this year, and against a deep and talented UCLA team, the Wildcats are going to need to play one of their best games, and that means getting everyone involved. Luckily for us, Ira Lee will be back for Arizona!

Convert on the Crunch Time Plays: Maybe it is just me, but it seems like Arizona struggles in making those key plays down the stretch of their close games this year (see at Colorado, Oregon, at Stanford, etc.)

Against UCLA, I would expect this to potentially be a close game, and that means if Arizona hopes to win, they are going to need to be able to dig deep and find a way to start making plays in those crunch-time moments.

Game Information:

Date: Thursday, February 18th, 2021

Time: 7:00 PM MST (Arizona Time), 6:00 PM PST

Location: Los Angeles, CA – Pauley Pavilion (13,800… 0)

Line: +2.0 Arizona

Television: Pac-12 Network

Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network Arizona Wildcats (Try TuneIn Radio)

Team Records:

• Arizona Wildcats (13-7, 8-7):  Losers in four of their last six games, Arizona has hit a bit of a rough patch, and their road doesn’t get any easier either with UCLA and USC on deck.
• UCLA Bruins (14-5, 10-3): Despite losing two of their last three, UCLA still sits in second place in the conference and will look for the season series sweep against Arizona.

All-Time Record: 58-42 UCLA. Since 1949-50, UCLA has had the upper hand in this series and will look to continue their winning ways against the Wildcats as they go for the season series sweep.

Hopefully, Arizona comes out ready to go, and is able to come away with the win on the road. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!