UCLA men’s basketball vs. Washington: What you need to know
LOS ANGELES — The UCLA men’s basketball team is on a four-game losing streak in Pac-12 play and has lost eight of their last nine games, heading into Sunday’s game against Washington.
The Bruins, who have an all-time 107-43 record against the Huskies, have an eight-game winning streak against Washington, including a 70-61 win at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 2, 2023.
Here’s what you need to know about the Pac-12 matchup:
UCLA VS. WASHINGTON
When: 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Pauley Pavilion
TV/Radio: Pac-12 Network/1150 AM
Records: UCLA is 6-10, 1-4 Pac-12, Washington is 10-6, 2-3
UCLA’s latest result: The Bruins are coming off a 90-44 loss at Utah on Thursday, in which they were outscored 57-21 in the second half. Sophomore guard Dylan Andrews led UCLA with 9 points but the Bruins could not stop Utah during their 25-2 run in the second half. Junior guard Lazar Stefanovic and freshman guard Sebastian Mack each had eight points.
“It’s terrible,” Stefanovic said after Thursday’s 46-point loss. “We’re going to watch, we’re going to learn from it. We’ve got to play tougher and rebound the ball, but effort has to be better, it has to be better in every aspect. We can’t let that happen.”
“Nobody feels sorry for them, which I tried to tell them Saturday,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said postgame. “Two straight games we’ve given up 14 offensive rebounds.
“That’s what I told them because that we can control, what we should be able to control, but our mind to your point, one thing affecting the other, our mind is affected, our lack of scoring starts to affect your defense and your rebounding. That’s when you’re in deep trouble and that’s what I was grossly concerned about, knowing how potent this team we were going to play was, knowing that they have a bunch of old guys who can really shoot the ball.”
Washington’s latest result: The Huskies are coming off an 82-67 win at home against Arizona State on Thursday. Washington was led by senior Sahvir Wheeler with 24 points, including 5 of 5 from 3-point range. Junior forward Keion Brooks Jr. finished with 22 points. Senior forward Moses Wood had 15 points and senior center Braxton Meah added a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Matchups to watch: UCLA’s Stefanovic versus Washington’s Brooks, who leads the Huskies with 20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 43.1% from 3-point range. Stefanovic, who finished with eight points on 30% shooting from the field against his former Utah team, will look to bounce back against a competitive Washington team.
Another pivotal matchup to watch is sophomore forward Adem Bona, who finished with a season-low four points and two rebounds in 18 minutes against Utah, versus Washington’s Wood, a capable forward who is coming off 15 points in the Huskies’ latest win.
“We’ve got no chance if we don’t get Adem playing better,” Cronin said. “I’ve got to get him playing better, starting with his rebounds and then second his scoring.”
UCLA trends to watch: The 46-point loss to Utah was UCLA’s biggest loss since the Bruins were blown out 109-61 at Stanford on Jan. 9, 1997.
The Bruins were outrebounded 50-28 against the Utes, which, paired with shooting 31.5% from the field (17 of 54), caused UCLA to lose their first game by double digits this season.
“My concern is you get into this and it gets more physical, we haven’t met that challenge at all,” Cronin said after Thursday’s blowout loss. “Adem has three rebounds and two rebounds in our last two games.”