No. 16 Bruins get an early taste of the Big Ten
UCLA’s record against ranked opponents this season is 0-2. The only two losses suffered by the Bruins came in succession in Las Vegas, where they fell to Illinois and Baylor.
It’s hard not to look back at that weekend when looking forward to UCLA’s next two games on the East Coast, taking on No. 20 Maryland (8-2) this evening in College Park before touching down in New York to play No. 13 Kentucky (7-2) on Saturday afternoon in Madison Square Garden.
Sounds more daunting than a quick trip to Vegas. Because it is.
Real travel. Real weather. A true road game in College Park. A prestigious venue
Today: in Madison Square Garden. The next two games will tell UCLA coach Mick Cronin a lot about his team.
“Games of this magnitude affect a lot,” Cronin said. “This is a big week for a lot of reasons. Maryland is probably going to be sold out.”
The Bruins’ only win on the road this season was at Stanford, a game UCLA won wire to wire, but even that road experience Cronin doesn’t think will prepare his team for what’s coming in College Park, and maybe in the future when UCLA moves to the Big Ten with Maryland and company.
“It will be a great atmosphere and a great opportunity to play in a raucous environment, which we did not do at Stanford,” Cronin added. “It will be a taste of the league we’re going to be in. For our team, we’re going to find out where we’re at.”
The last time UCLA faced Maryland was in 2007. The Bruins defeated the Terrapins 71-59 thanks to a double-double by Kevin Love. However, the last time UCLA played in College Park was in 1982. Maryland upset thenNo. 3 ranked UCLA 80-79 in double overtime on Dec. 23 in front of a reported crowd of 14,500. UCLA blew out the Terps the season prior 90-57.
The trip will mark Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s final marquee nonconference road trip of his career. The senior forward is averaging 17.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 30.4 minutes per game this season.
“I think we’ll need complete and utter focus for 40 minutes,” Jaquez said about Wednesday’s game.
Jaquez also thinks the experience from the games in Las Vegas should prove beneficial to young teammates like Amari Bailey, Adem Bona, Dylan Andrews and Abramo Canka.
“This is what basketball players want,” he said. “We don’t want nobody to be in the crowd. Sometimes it makes it more fun when a crowd is rooting against you and that’s something I’ve been telling the young guys.”
Quick look at Maryland
Maryland is averaging 75.8 points per game while keeping opponents to an average of 60.8 points per game through 10 games.
If there’s one thing that sticks out when looking at Maryland and UCLA, there’s one common opponent: Illinois.
The Terrapins defeated Illinois 71-66 on Dec. 2 at home, thanks to 24 points from Jahmir Young. Young is the team’s leading scorer, pouring in 15.6 points in 28.5 minutes per game.
Donta Scott (14.1ppg), Hakim Hart (12.4) and Julian Reese (11.9) also average in double-figure scoring for Maryland.
Andrews wins honor
Freshman guard Dylan Andrews was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week by the conference Monday. Andrews tallied 11 points and six assists with no turnovers in UCLA’s 8764 win over Denver Saturday afternoon.
Andrews is the third consecutive Bruin to win the award after Amari Bailey won it the previous two weeks (Nov. 28, Dec. 5).