Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Play Host To UCLA With Plenty On The Line
March 06, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Safe to say, Thursday's 7 p.m. Colorado-UCLA matchup at the CU Events Center will have a little extra juice.
Technically, the game won't count any more — or any less — than any other Pac-12 game for both squads.
But with both teams playing their best basketball of the season, both still squarely in the hunt for a top-four conference finish — and both needing a win to keep those hopes alive — Thursday's game has all the makings of an entertaining March matchup.
"This is what college basketball is all about," said CU coach Tad Boyle, whose team enters the game with a 17-11 overall mark and an 8-8 Pac-12 record. "It's fun to be playing when it means something, and they're a game ahead of us in the standings. They're playing for the same thing we're playing for — that's what's great about this time of year."
Indeed, the Bruins (16-13, 9-7) have plenty on the line this week. UCLA can clinch at least a top-four finish with a win Thursday and a victory Saturday in Utah.
For the Buffs to get a top-four spot, and the first-round conference tournament bye that comes with it, will require two CU victories this week (USC visits Saturday), along with a little help from some other teams around the conference.
But two wins would guarantee the Buffs no worse than the fifth seed and send them to Las Vegas next week with plenty of momentum. To accomplish the first part of that equation, they will have to stop a high-scoring UCLA team that has won three in a row and four of its last five.
Colorado has won three in a row against UCLA, including an 84-73 win at Pauley Pavilion in early February. But the Bruins have upped their game since then, and are now the Pac-12's highest scoring team, averaging 78.6 points per game.
UCLA is led in scoring by sophomore guard Kris Wilkes, who is scoring at a 17.1 clip. But over the last month, the Bruins' hottest scorer has been sophomore guard Jaylen Hands, who is averaging more than 20 points per game over UCLA's last seven outings.
The 6-foot-3 Hands is a versatile player who can shoot from outside — he hit eight 3-pointers in a win over Oregon, including a 7-for-8 effort from long distance in the second half — as well as go to the rim.
"He's shooting the ball well, he's playing with a lot of confidence," Boyle said. "He's so fast, he's so athletic — that's one of the things we worked on today, just trying to corral him. It's hard in the open floor. I'm not going to compare him to Russell Westbrook, but he's got that kind of speed, open-floor speed. If he gets downhill it's really difficult to contain."
Along with Wilkes and Hands, the Bruins have one of the league's best big men in 7-foot-1 sophomore Moses Brown, who is averaging 10.5 points and 8.7 rebounds. In their first meeting this year, Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds while Hands added 13 points.
But the Buffs are also playing well. After starting conference play 2-6, CU has won six of its last eight. Sophomores Tyler Bey and McKinley Wright IV have upped their game over the last month, as has freshman Evan Battey. Bey has recorded six double-doubles in CU's last eight games, Wright is averaging a team-leading 13.0 points per game and 5.0 assists, and Battey is shooting almost 60 percent from the field over his last six games while averaging 10 points per game.
Boyle, though, believes the Bruins will have a little extra emotion in their bellies after losing on their home floor to Colorado.
"Anytime you play a team and you've beaten them a few times, or even one time for that matter, they have the emotional edge," Boyle said. "We have to make sure that edge is nullified based on our concentration and readiness to play."
LAST TIME: The Buffs had their best 3-point shooting effort of the year in their win over UCLA in February, hitting 54.2 percent of their tries (13-for-24) from beyond the arc. That included a 7-for-9 effort from junior guard Shane Gatling, who finished with a career-high 28 points. The game was also just one of two this year the Buffs have won while losing the rebound battle (the other was Utah last weekend).
BUFFS BITS: Heading into this weekend's Pac-12 play, just two games separate third through 10th place in the conference standings — and Colorado could finish anywhere in that range. … The Buffs have already matched their win totals, both overall and in conference play, from last year, when they finished 17-15, 8-10.
THE SERIES: The Bruins hold an 11-5 all-time edge, but Colorado has won the last three. CU collected its first-ever season sweep of UCLA last season, and the Buffs are 3-3 against UCLA in Boulder.
BROADCAST: The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Dave Pasch and Bill Walton. KOA will carry the radio broadcast with Mark Johnson and Scott Wilke.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
