No. 4 Bruins riding 21-game home win streak
The UCLA men's basketball team has won 21 straight home games, which is the longest home winning streak in the nation after Auburn's 28-gamer was recently snapped.
Bruins coach Mick Cronin has been clear about protecting home court. He believes going unbeaten at home (or at least close to it), is a strong resumé piece for a high seed in the NCAA tournament come March. UCLA is 13-0 at Pauley Pavilion this season, a record that players, fans and the coaching staff can be proud of.
However, Cronin added an extra dash of reasoning to why he thinks it's even more special.
“All you gotta do is turn on the TV. Most teams are constructed of multiple transfers – this team is special,” Cronin said. “We don't have (a transfer), because we didn't need one. Because our guys didn't
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Today: Stanford at UCLA, 8p.m., ESPN2
transfer. Our guys didn't go to free agency.”
Fourth-ranked UCLA (21-4, 12-2 Pac-12) will have a chance to extend its home winning streak when it hosts Stanford (11-14, 5-9) at 8 p.m., tonight at Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised on ESPN2. The last time the Bruins lost on their home floor was Jan. 13, 2022, in an 84-81 setback to Oregon.
When it comes to home winning streaks, UCLA has a long way to go when it comes to all-time homestands. The most recent streak to fall was on Jan. 19 when LMU beat Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash., to end a 75game winning streak. Cronin said he was part of a 43game win streak at Cincinnati. UCLA holds the NCAA Division I record with 98 consecutive home wins between 1970 and 1976.
“We reap the benefits of Jaime Jaquez, Tyger Campbell, David Singleton, David
Nwuba, Jaylen Clark, and even Russel Stong,” said Cronin, noting Stong, a senior walk-on. “He does a great job for us in practice. It's continuity.”
A mind-boggling winning streak at home isn't at the forefront of Cronin's mind, of course. But the hunt for his first Pac-12 Conference regular season title with program-grown players is something he's proud of.
“Our guys on our team have been extremely loyal to the school and program,” Cronin said. “It gives you a chance to build something. In this day and age, loyalty is a thing of the past. But we're fortunate to have great kids.”
UCLA, which currently sits in first place in the Pac12 at 12-2, has won at least 20 games for the third consecutive season and hit the 20-win mark for the eighth time in the last 12 seasons.
Jaquez, Bailey sweep weekly awards
Jaquez was named the
Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week and teammate Amari Bailey was named the Freshman of the Week after the Bruins' sweep of the Oregon schools on the road last week. It's Jaquez's second time this season (and third time in his career) receiving the honor and it's Bailey's third time being hailed the conference's best freshman this year.
Jaquez averaged 16.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in the two games, including a 25-point, 12-rebound performance to give UCLA coach Mick Cronin his first win in Eugene on Saturday, 70-63. Jaquez is up to six doubledoubles this season.
Bailey recorded a season-high 24 points in the Bruins' 62-47 win at Oregon State last Thursday night, connecting on 10 of 16 shots. The highly-touted freshman finished the twogame road trip averaging 16 points and 2 rebounds. Since returning from a left foot injury, Bailey has averaged 13.2 points and 2.4 rebounds and is shooting 57.1% from the field.
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Wednesday's results
AP TOP 25
No. 10 Tennessee 68, No. 1 Alabama 59 No. 7 Virginia 61, Louisville 58
No. 11 Marquette 69, No. 16 Xavier 68 Northwestern 64, No. 14 Indiana 62 No. 19 Iowa St. 70, No. 22 TCU 59
No. 21 San Diego St. at Fresno St., late
WEST
Boise St. 80, Colorado St. 78
Cal Baptist 84, Seattle 63
Texas Rio Grande Valley 77, Grand Canyon 76
UC Davis 73, CS Northridge 62 UC Irvine 70, UC Santa Barbara 59
EAST
Albany (NY) 81, UMBC 74 Binghamton 86, NJIT 67
Colgate 93, Army 86
Duquesne 76, Saint Joseph's 62 Fordham 78, St. Bonaventure 63 George Mason 66,
George Washington 53
Holy Cross 71, Boston U. 69 La Salle 68, Richmond 62
Loyola (Md.) 73, Lafayette 70 Mass.-Lowell 85, Bryant 71 Navy 75, Lehigh 64
VCU 55, Rhode Island 54 Vermont 80, New Hampshire 51
SOUTH
Belmont 95, Evansville 63
Campbell 67, Charleston Southern 51 Chattanooga 78, VMI 58
Clemson 94, Florida St. 54
East Carolina 75, Cincinnati 71 Florida 79, Mississippi 64
Georgia Tech 77, Virginia Tech 70 High Point 71, Presbyterian 69 Kentucky 71, Mississippi St. 68 SC-Upstate 72, Longwood 67 Samford 83, UNC-Greensboro 71 Stetson 75, Florida Gulf Coast 72
The Citadel 69, Furman 65
W. Carolina 68, ETSU 66
Winthrop 86, Gardner-Webb 78 Wofford 70, Mercer 67
MIDWEST
Bradley 64, Missouri St. 54 Drake 82, N. Iowa 74
Indiana St. 79, Ill.-Chicago 60 Iowa St. 70, TCU 59
Oakland 85, IUPUI 81
Saint Louis 78, Davidson 65
SOUTHWEST
Sam Houston St. 66, Texas-Arlington 56 South Florida 96, Tulsa 69
Stephen F. Austin 65, Tarleton St. 60 Texas A&M 62, Arkansas 56
NET RANKINGS
The NET, which stands for the NCAA Evaluation Tool, replaced the RPI after the 2017-18 season and it is used as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament.
Houston Alabama Tennessee Purdue UCLA
Saint Mary's Texas Kansas UConn Arizona
Record Rank
23-2 22-3 19-6 23-3 21-4 21-5 20-5 20-5 19-7 22-4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Pvs
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
At Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club Purse:
Surface:
$626,945
Red clay
MEN'S SINGLES
Round of 16
Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Argentina, def. Roberto Carballes Baena, Spain, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Cameron Norrie (2), Britain, def. Facundo Diaz Acosta, Argentina, 4-6,
7-5, 7-6 (6). Dusan Lajovic, Serbia, def. Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Argentina, 6-3,
6-1. Carlos Alcaraz (1), Spain, def. Laslo Djere, Serbia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Round of 16
Marcelo Demoliner, Brazil, and Andrea Vavassori, Italy, def. David Vega Hernandez, Spain, and Rafael Matos (2), Brazil, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar, Spain, def. Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (1), Argentina, walkover. Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (4), Argentina, def. Pedro Cachin and Francisco Cerundolo, Argentina, 6-4, 6-4. Ariel Behar, Uruguay, and Nicolas Barrientos, Colombia, def. Federico Zeballos and Boris Arias, Bolivia, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6).
At Delray Beach (Fla.) Stadium & Tennis Center
Purse:
Surface:
$642,735
Hardcourt outdoor
MEN'S SINGLES
Round of 16
Miomir Kecmanovic (4), Serbia, def.
Nuno Borges, Portugal, 6-3, 7-5. Mackenzie McDonald, United States, def. Yoshihito Nishioka (5), Japan, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Marcos Giron, United States, def. Matija Pecotic, Croatia, 6-3, 6-3. Michael Mmoh, United States, def. Denis Shapovalov (3), Canada, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Round of 16
Reese Stalder, United States, and Rinky Hijikata, Australia, def. Guillermo Duran and Guido Andreozzi, Argentina, 7-5, 2-6, 10-6. Philipp Oswald, Austria, and Jordan Thompson, Australia, def. Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni, India, 6-2, 6-4. Andre Goransson, Sweden, and Nuno Borges, Portugal, def. Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow (3), United States, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. Michael Venus, New Zealand, and Jamie Murray (2), Britain, def. Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia, and William Blumberg, United States, 6-4, 6-3.
At Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex
Doha, Qatar
Purse:
Surface:
$780,637
Hardcourt outdoor
WOMEN'S SINGLES
Round of 16
Coco Gauff (4), United States, def.
Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-6 (6) Veronika Kudermetova (8), Russia, def. Sofia Kenin, United States, 6-2, 7-5. Belinda Bencic (7), Switzerland, def. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 1-6, 7-6
(4), 6-4. Maria Sakkari (5), Greece, def. Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, 6-3, 6-2. Jessica Pegula (2), United States, def. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, def. Daria Kasatkina (6), Russia, 6-3, 7-6 (7). Iga Swiatek (1), Poland, def. Danielle Collins, United States, 6-0, 6-1.