LOS ANGELES – The Bruins return to action this Friday evening, hosting Pepperdine inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. (PT). Fans can watch the Bruins’ home contest on Big Ten Network, as Carlo Jiménez and Don MacLean will have the call. All of UCLA’s men’s basketball games are being aired on the radio this season on AM 790 (KABC).
GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Capacity: 13,800
Tipoff Time: 7:37 p.m. (PT)
Television: Big Ten Network
TV Talent: Carlo Jiménez (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst)
Radio (UCLA Audio Network): AM 790 (KABC)
Radio Talent: Josh Lewin (play-by-play), Tracy Murray (analyst)
Sirius XM Channels: SiriusXM 85, and on the SiriusXM App
Live Stats: ucla.statbroadcast.com (link here)
UCLA’S TICKET INFORMATION (HOME GAMES)
Single-game tickets for UCLA’s home games are on sale. Fans can secure tickets to this Friday evening’s contest against Pepperdine, and all upcoming home contests this November and December. The Bruins play 18 regular-season games inside Pauley Pavilion this season.
Complete ticket information about UCLA men’s basketball is available here. Direct links to single-game ticket purchases can be viewed here. Fans can call (310) 206-5991 or email tickets@athletics.ucla.edu for more information. In addition, be sure to check out all of the game themes and upcoming promotions for the Bruins’ 2025-26 season.
FOURS UP FRIDAY, TICKETS
Fans can purchase tickets through the “Fours Up Fridays” promotion, offering tickets starting at just $4 (per game) for three Friday home non-conference contests – vs. Pepperdine on Nov. 7 (this Friday), vs. Presbyterian on Nov. 21, and against Cal Poly on Dec. 19. Fans can also purchase tickets in lower seat locations at $14, $24 and $40, respectively, for those three basketball games. The “Fours Up Fridays” promotion can be accessed by clicking here.
WE ARE LA STRONG
For the Bruins’ home game this Friday, the work of our community’s first responders and the resilience of victims from the Palisades fire will be recognized. In partnership with the LA Strong Foundation, UCLA Athletics will host a toy drive for boys and girls, aged 6-12. Such items in the toy drive include remote control cars and other devices, dolls, walkie-talkies, craft and art kits, outdoor sports equipment for active play, board games, musical instruments, science kits and books. Fans can donate toys at a collection area which will be adjacent to the statue of former head coach John Wooden along the north side of the arena (on gameday, starting at 6:00 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. start).
UCLA’S SEASON OPENER
– Donovan Dent scored 21 points and totaled nine assists to lead UCLA past Eastern Washington, 80-74.
– Five UCLA players scored in double figures as the Bruins improved to 6-1 in their last seven season-opening games.
– Xavier Booker scored 14 points, tied his career high in rebounds (7) and played a career-high 29 minutes in the win.
– Monday night’s game marked the earliest start to any UCLA basketball season in the calendar year.
– The Bruins led by a 74-60 margin with six minutes remaining and owned a 40-33 halftime cushion.
ON DECK, VERSUS PEPPERDINE
– UCLA has registered a 21-4 all-time record against Pepperdine, with eight meetings since the year 2000.
– Most recently, the Bruins earned an 100-53 win over Pepperdine in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 23, 2022.
– Six Bruins scored in double figures (led by Amari Bailey’s 19 points) in the team’s win in November of 2022.
– Pepperdine head coach Ed Schilling served as an assistant coach at UCLA from 2013-14 through 2016-17.
– Pepperdine assistant coach Tyus Edney played at UCLA (1992-95) before returning to the coaching staff in 2010-11.
KEY NOTES ABOUT UCLA
– The Bruins return four of their primary contributors from last season’s team. In addition, UCLA has welcomed back two redshirt players and has brought in five transfers. Three of UCLA’s top four scorers from last year’s squad have returned in seniors Tyler Bilodeau (13.5 ppg) and Skyy Clark (8.5 ppg) and junior Eric Dailey Jr. (11.4 ppg).
– UCLA’s five incoming transfer students include Xavier Booker (from Michigan State), Jamar Brown (from UMKC), Donovan Dent (from New Mexico), Steven Jamerson II (from San Diego) and Anthony Peoples Jr. (from North Carolina Central). Last season, Dent secured honorable mention All-America acclaim at New Mexico (averaged 20.4 ppg, 6.4 apg).
– Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark served as UCLA’s student-athlete representatives at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, along with head coach Mick Cronin, on Thursday, Oct. 9. Bilodeau led the Bruins in 3-point percentage last season, knocking down 40.0 percent of his long-range attempts (38/95). Clark was second in 3-point percentage last year, making 48 of 121 attempts (39.7 percent). Clark shot 43.3 percent (29-for-67) from 3-point range in the team’s final 15 games.
– Donovan Dent (point guard), Eric Dailey Jr. (small forward) and Tyler Bilodeau (power forward) have each been named to 20-person positional watch lists at the start of the season. Dent is on the Bob Cousy Award watch list, while Dailey Jr. has been tabbed to the Julius Erving Award watch list, and Tyler Bilodeau to the Karl Malone Award watch list.
– Donovan Dent totaled 224 assists while at New Mexico last season, averaging 6.4 assists per game (which ranked second in the Mountain West Conference and No. 13 in the nation). Senior Skyy Clark registered 91 assists in 34 games for the Bruins last season, averaging 2.7 assists per game. He posted a team-leading 2.4 assist-turnover ratio as a junior.
– Last season, UCLA went 12-5 over the final 17 games after a four-game losing streak in early-to-mid January. Following losses at Maryland and Rutgers on Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, UCLA won seven consecutive games (five of those at home). The Bruins produced a 15-2 record at home and went 8-9 in 17 games played on the road or at neutral-site venues.
– For the fourth consecutive season (last season), UCLA led its conference in scoring defense. The Bruins averaged 65.2 points allowed per game in 34 contests, which ranked No. 22 in the nation. UCLA led all Big Ten teams in scoring defense, finishing the year just ahead of Michigan State (67.1 ppg) and Maryland (67.2 ppg) in the scoring defense category.
– Coach Cronin secured career victory No. 500 in the Bruins’ 69-61 win over Ohio State in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial on Sunday, Feb. 23. Cronin helped UCLA to three more wins in 2024-25, pushing his career win total up to 503. He currently leads all coaches nationwide, age 55 and younger, in total NCAA Division I victories (503).
– Through games played from 2010-11 through 2024-25, Coach Cronin is tied for the fifth-most victories of any NCAA Division I coach (373 wins in a 15-year span). He’s tied on that list with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (373 wins) and trails Mark Few of Gonzaga (451), Bill Self of Kansas (426), John Calipari of Arkansas (397) and Randy Bennett of Saint Mary’s (379).
EXHIBITION CONTESTS
The Bruins played a pair of exhibition contests in the past three weeks. Last week (Tuesday, Oct. 28), the Bruins defeated UC Irvine, 94-64, taking advantage of a 37-7 scoring run through an 11-minute stretch. Tyler Bilodeau scored 19 points and Donovan Dent added 16 points. In UCLA’s 67-60 win at San Diego State on the night of Friday, Oct. 17, Dent scored a team-leading 18 points and Skyy Clark finished with 13 points. UCLA never trailed in its contest at SDSU that night, leading 17-0 early in the game before the host Aztecs cut the margin to just three points, at 52-49 with 7:36 to play. UCLA bumped its second-half cushion back up to nine points, at 60-51, with under five minutes remaining in regulation.
PRESEASON RANKINGS
For the second consecutive year, UCLA has opened the basketball season ranked among the top 25 teams in the AP and Coaches’ Polls. The Bruins were tabbed No. 12 in the preseason AP poll, as announced in mid-October. The Bruins are one of six programs in the Big Ten Conference to have been ranked among the AP’s top 25 teams. Also in the top 25 poll from the Big Ten are No. 7 Michigan, No. 17 Illinois, No. 22 Michigan State and No. 24 Wisconsin. Conference foes Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Washington have received votes in the preseason poll.
20-WIN SEASON
With 23 victories in 2024-25, the Bruins reached the 20-win plateau for the 47th time in 59 years (that span includes 1966-67 through 2024-25). Coach Cronin has guided UCLA to at least 20 victories in four of the past five season. In six seasons at UCLA, Coach Cronin has averaged 23.0 wins per season, including a 31-6 overall record in 2022-23. Nine of the Big Ten Conference’s 18 teams finished the 2024-25 season with at least 20 victories. Michigan State won the Big Ten’s regular-season title, posting an overall record of 30-7 and a league record of 17-3.
POSTSEASON ACTION
Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to include at least 64 teams in 1985, the Bruins have played 52 games during the opening week/weekend (first and second round contests). UCLA has gone 41-11 in those 52 contests, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 17 tournaments. The Bruins have posted a record of 23-6 in the first round (this does not include any First Four contests). The Bruins lost in the First Four in 2018 and won a First Four matchup in 2021. UCLA advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 2023 with wins over (15-seed) UNC Asheville and (7-seed) Northwestern.
TOP DEFENDERS
The Bruins’ program has produced some of the nation’s most talented defensive players over the past several seasons. Last year, then-senior Kobe Johnson was honored as one of five players on the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, closing the year at No. 6 in the conference in steals per game (1.6 spg, 55 steals in 34 games). Two seasons ago (2023-24), then-sophomore Adem Bona was honored as the Pac-12 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. Bona led UCLA’s team that season in blocks (58 blocks, 1.8 bpg) and was second in steals (37 steals, 1.1 spg). Three seasons ago (2022-23), then-junior Jaylen Clark was honored as the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year and the NABC Defensive Player of the Year.
SKYY’S THE LIMIT
UCLA’s Skyy Clark closed his junior season with a team-leading 2.4 assist-turnover ratio, through all 34 games (91 assists, 38 turnovers). He joined the Bruins’ program in the summer of 2024 after having averaged a team-leading 13.2 points per game as a sophomore at Louisville in 2023-24. Clark finished with UCLA’s third-highest assist total (91) and scored at least 10 points in 13 games during his junior season. He shot 45.8 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. In a pair of NCAA Tournament games, he averaged 16.0 points and shot 10-for-19 from the field.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
UCLA concluded the 2024-25 basketball season ranked No. 22 in the nation in scoring defense, surrendering an average of 65.2 points per game (first in the Big Ten. In addition, the Bruins ranked No. 7 in turnover margin (+4.6) and No. 16 in turnovers forced per game (15.1). UCLA ranked No. 37 in the nation in scoring margin (8.9 ppg). Glancing at shooting percentages, the opposition shot 42.7 percent overall and 32.8 percent from 3-point range. UCLA ranked No. 103 in field goal percentage defense and No. 126 in 3-point field goal percentage defense. The final national metrics via KenPom.com had UCLA listed at No. 14 in the nation in defensive efficiency and No. 37 in offensive efficiency.
LOOKING AHEAD IN 2025-26
The Bruins 31-game regular-season schedule began with an 80-74 win against Eastern Washington on Monday, Nov. 3. In all, UCLA’s 31-game regular-season schedule includes 18 home games, 10 road contests and three neutral-site games (in November and December). The Bruins’ first game away from Pauley Pavilion takes place against No. 13 Arizona at the nearby Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 14. The other two neutral-site contests are to take place at Chase Center in San Francisco (vs. California) and at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle (vs. Gonzaga). UCLA’s first road game will take place in Big Ten play at Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
– UCLA’s first 14 games will take place in the Pacific time zone, including destinations such as San Francisco and Seattle. The Bruins will not head to the Midwest or East until a two-game road trip in Big Ten play immediately after the New Year – at Iowa (Jan. 3) and Wisconsin (Jan. 6).
NOTES ON PAULEY PAVILION
The Bruins went 15-2 in Pauley Pavilion last season, UCLA’s 59th campaign playing in the longtime basketball venue. The first game in Pauley took place on Dec. 3, 1965, as No. 1 UCLA defeated Ohio State, 92-66. UCLA spent 47 seasons in Pauley Pavilion before the venue was closed for an 18-month renovation (closed in March of 2011). UCLA hosted 18 home games in 2011-12 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (14 games) near downtown L.A. and at the Honda Center in Anaheim (four games). UCLA returned home in Nov. 2012. This season marks the 14th year in the arena’s updated configuration.
In 2023-24, CSUN snapped UCLA’s 29-home-game winning streak with a 76-72 win over the Bruins (Dec. 19, 2023). Prior to that game, UCLA hadn’t lost at home since an overtime setback (84-81) to Oregon on Jan. 13, 2022. UCLA’s 29-game home streak had been the longest active streak in the country. Since taking over as UCLA’s head coach prior to the 2019-20 season, Mick Cronin has guided the Bruins to an 80-15 record in 95 home games (84.2% win percentage).
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON UCLA
– UCLA was among eight programs from the 18-team Big Ten to advance to last season’s NCAA Tournament (along with No. 2-seed Michigan State, No. 3-seed Wisconsin, No. 4-seed Purdue, No. 4-seed Maryland, No. 5-seed Michigan, No. 5-seed Oregon and No. 6-seed Illinois. The Bruins entered the tournament last March as the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region.
– The Bruins’ 15-man roster this season includes eight student-athletes who are from the Southern California region. All 15 student-athletes are from the United States. Looking at the eight local players, five are from Los Angeles County and three are from Riverside County (Donovan Dent, Eric Freeny and Anthony Peoples Jr. all went to Corona Centennial HS).
– UCLA has two student-athletes who were on the roster in 2022-23 (Evan Manjikian, Jack Seidler) and three players who were on the roster in 2023-24 (Manjikian, Seidler and Brandon Williams). Four of UCLA’s most prominent contributors, in Tyler Bilodeau, Skyy Clark, Eric Dailey Jr. and Trent Perry, are back from last year’s team.
– Last season, UCLA’s assist-turnover ratio (1.55-to-1) ranked No. 20 in the nation and second in the Big Ten. The Bruins concluded the year with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.55, but posted a ratio of 1.81 in the team’s final 15 games.
– UCLA recorded a season-high 15 steals in a win over Southern Utah (Nov. 26, 2024). Since steals were officially tracked (starting in 1978-79), the Bruins’ single-game record stands at 21 steals against Northern Arizona on Dec. 18, 1997.
– Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Bruins have gone 69-30 in conference play (logging a 69.7 win percentage). UCLA went 10-10 in Pac-12 play in 2023-24 after having won the league title (18-2 record) during the 2022-23 season.
CONSECUTIVE THREE-POINTERS
UCLA has made at least one 3-pointer in each of its last 65 games. The Bruins went 0-for-6 from long range in a 78-58 win against Long Island University early in the 2023-24 season in Pauley Pavilion (on Nov. 15, 2023). That game snapped a streak of 792 consecutive contests with at least one made 3-pointer by UCLA. That 3-point streak began after the Bruins finished 0-for-14 from 3-point distance in a home loss to No. 2 Stanford (78-63) on Feb. 3, 2000. The Bruins’ single-game 3-point record stands at 19 made 3-pointers (going 19-for-31) in an 104-89 win at Colorado on Jan. 12, 2017.
