Undefeated No. 11 UCLA travels to Lexington on Saturday to play top-ranked Kentucky (9:30 a.m., channel 2).
Both the 8-0 Bruins and 7-0 Wildcats play up-tempo basketball. “All the makings of a good national television game,” said UCLA Coach Steve Alford after his team buried U.C. Riverside 98-56 Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins are averaging 97 points, and Kentucky beat Arizona State 115-69 last Monday – so scoring will be plentiful.
The game will come down to who has the better athletes right now. “Kentucky is playing well,” said Alford. “You will see two teams playing very well and two teams that like to play fast.”
UCLA’s lineup includes 6’3 Bryce Alford, 6’6 Lonzo Ball, 6’5 Isaac Hamilton, 6’10 TJ Leaf and 7’0 Thomas Welch.
The Bruins bench is better than last year — thanks to 6’1 Aaron Holiday, 6’10 Ike Anigbogu, 6’11 Gyorgy Goloman and 6’9 Ikenna Okwarabizie.
Sophomore Holiday is hugely improved.
“Aaron is aggressive,” Alford said. “We love that he is coming off the bench.
“He gives us fire and enthusiasm off the bench. Aaron has done a good job of giving us energy we need off the bench. We did not have that last year.”
Holiday scored 18 points against Riverside, four rebounds and had five assists.
The Bruins have also become a very good passing team because of the arrival of freshman star Ball, a Magic Johnson- type who thinks pass first, scoring second.
Ball set a UCLA freshman record with 13 assists against Riverside. He scored five points but he only shot the ball three times. “Once again we shared the ball,” said Alford, noting the 29 assists.
“We have done a phenomenal job of sharing the ball and helping each other score.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
