» Pac-12 Commissioner Scott unhappy with news in China,

Game’s sponsor in China also streams conference games.

SHANGHAI — Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott was unsurprisingly displeased about the attention that the arrests of three UCLA basketball players on shoplifting charges have drawn prior to the Bruins’ season-opening game against Georgia Tech in China.

“Not happy with anything that doesn’t reflect well on our universities and our hosts,” Scott told the AJC on Wednesday. “We’re guests in this country, so I don’t want anything that’s going to put a cloud over that, so really disappointing.”

The host that Scott likely least wants to offend is Alibaba, the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company and the presenting sponsor for the game, which starts 11:30 p.m. Friday Atlanta time (ESPN).

The company has committed heavily to this game and to the Pac-12, recently agreeing to an extension to stream games in China through 2024.

Co-founder Joe Tsai, who recently bought a 49 percent share in the New Jersey Nets, invited UCLA and Tech teams and staff to the company’s campus and gave them about an hour of his time to explain the story and success of his company. His comments to both teams, not to mention his purchase of a stake in the Nets, indicated his significant interest in basketball and suggested his personal interest in both Saturday’s game and the sponsorship of the Pac-12.

The arrests, in Hangzhou, might affect the partnership in a more meaningful way in China, where the concept of one individual’s actions representing those of the group is much stronger than in the United States.

Scott expressed his disappointment that the arrests were distracting attention from the positives that have come from the game participants’ experience.

“We expect nothing but high standards of behavior to represent the school, conference, the NCAA, your country,” Scott said. “That’s what I talked about up there (during a news conference to promote the game) was, this is about a positive and friendly exchange and building goodwill. So anything that distracts from that, I’m not happy about.”

Among fans in China, it’s not likely that the arrests of UCLA freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hall on Tuesday will make much of an impact, as American colleges don’t register significantly on the Chinese sports landscape.

Last year’s Pac-12 China game drew 7,200 fans to an arena with a capacity of 18,000. Two media members questioned at a news conference for Saturday’s game had little or no awareness of the arrests.