The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the UCLA Bruins on Thursday night in a battle of two storied programs. Kentucky comes into this game at 7-0 and ranked first in the nation, while UCLA comes in at 4-3 and unranked.
Kentucky has won every game so far this season by double digits, but it hasn't always been as easy as it looks on paper. Duke played the Wildcats somewhat close in the Champions Classic, and then in their last game against Illinois State they struggled without their point guard Tyler Ulis. Ulis is considered a game-time decision, and that could spell some trouble for the Wildcats, as UCLA is a tougher test than Illinois State.
In the game without Ulis, freshman Isaiah Briscoe scored a team-high 18 points, and while he is a point guard the team still looked out of sync. The Wildcats had just eight assists, which was a season low, and they also committed 15 turnovers. They were able to get away with it against an inferior opponent but might not be so lucky if Ulis can't play on Thursday night.
An encouraging sign from the win over Illinois State for Kentucky was the play of junior forward Marcus Lee. Lee is one of the few veterans on this team, and he came off the bench for the first time and had season highs in points (13) and rebounds (12).
While Kentucky has been relatively dominant, UCLA has struggled so far this season. The Bruins lost their first game to Monmouth at home and then won three in a row, including their first game in Maui, before losing two more in a row. UCLA did win its most recent game against Cal State Northridge in blowout fashion, but the way the Bruins have played against good teams has not been encouraging.
Tony Parker has been the standout for UCLA so far this season, as he already has five double-doubles, including a 14-point, 11-rebound performance in its most recent game. Parker is part of UCLA being a very good rebounding team, which it will really need against a big Kentucky team, but the Bruins have struggled on defense and at the free throw line, as they have made just 18 of 32 free throws in the last two games (56 percent.)
If UCLA is going to have a chance in this game it will likely need to hit a good amount of threes. Three-point shooting is not the Bruins' strength, but they did hit a season-high nine in their last game. The key to the three ball for UCLA is Bryce Alford, who leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game, but he has yet to find his shot this season, as he is making just 39 percent of his field goals and 28 percent of his threes. Alford, though, can heat up at any time, and there is no better time than Thursday night for him to hit a hot streak from deep.
The last time these schools met was last season when a dominant Kentucky team embarrassed UCLA by a score of 83-44. In that game, Kentucky led 41-7 at halftime, but this year UCLA has the home court advantage as the game will be played at Pauley Pavilion. Kentucky has won seven of the 11 meetings with UCLA all-time, including the only meeting in Los Angeles back in 1959.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 9 p.m. Eastern time, and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Kentucky radio broadcast go here, and for the UCLA radio broadcast go here.
