Pac-10 Basketball: A Look at Washington-UCLA

Washington Huskies at UCLA Bruins, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
Friday, December 31, 2010, 4:00 pm Eastern, TV: Fox Sports Net
Opening Line: Washington -4
Current Line: Washington -3 1/2
Opening Total: 150 1/2
Current Total: 152
Money Line: Washington -170 / UCLA +150

Isaiah Thomas and the Huskies take on UCLA inPac-10 Action Friday. The Huskies are 3 1/2 point road favorite.

The 9-3 Washington Huskies play at the 9-4 UCLA Bruins in the second Pac-10 game for both teams. Both Washington and UCLA won their openers. Washington slipped by USC in overtime 73-67 and UCLA beat Washington St 80-71 Wednesday night. Washington has losses on the season to Kentucky and Michigan St in the Maui Invitational and at Texas A&M. All three looses are by a total of 13 points. Washington has wins over Texas Tech and Virginia on the season. UCLA has won 6 in a row, all at home, since a 4 game losing streak at teh end of last month. The Bruins lost to Villanova and VCU in the pres-season NIT in New York, then lost at Kansas, and at home against Montana. The six game winning streak includes a victory over then #18 BYU. UCLA is 91-37 all time in the series and Washington is 6-59 all time at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA won the last meeting at Pauley 62-61 on a buzzer beater from half court. The two teams have split their last 4 meetings, and Washington has gone 2-1-1 ATS in those meetings. Three of those four meetings went over the total. UCLA is 15-5 ATS in home games versus teams teams with winning records the last 3 seasons. The Bruins are 8-18 ATS when playing with 0ne day or fewer rest the last 3 seasons. UCLA is 1-8 ATS after a win against a conference rival the last 3 seasons.

Washington is outscoring opponents 89-68 on the season. The Huskies are shooting 48.2% from the field and 41.9% from 3 point range. Husky opponents are shooting 40% from the field. The Huskies are making 65.4% of their free throws. Junior Guard Isaiah Thomas is the leading scorer with 15.3 ppg. Thomas also averages 3.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals a game. Senior forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning scores 14.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounds with 6.7 a game and blocks with 1.3 a game. He also averages 1.3 steals a game. Senior Forward Justin Holiday scores 12.5 ppg and leads the team in steals with 2 a game. Holiday is also averaging 6.2 rebounds a game. Abdul Gaddy leads the team in assists with 3.9 a game. Washington averages 41.1 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +5.8. The Huskies average 18.2 assists and 12 turnovers a game. They force 17.6 turnovers a game on defense. They average 8.7 steals and 5.1 blocks a game.

UCLA is outscoring opponents 75-68 on the season. The Bruins are shooting 46.8% from the field and 34.6% from 3 point range. Bruin opponents are shooting 42.6% from the field. The Bruins are making 64.6% of their free throws. Five Bruins score in double figures. Forward Tyler Honeycitt leads the team in scoring with 14.8 ppg, rebounding with 8.1 a game and blocks with 1.8 a game. He also averages 2.8 assists a game. Forward Reeves Nelson averages 14.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists a game. Guard Malcolm Lee averages 12,8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game. Guard Lazeric Jones scores 11.3 ppg, and leads the team in assists with 3.5 a game. Center Joshua Smith averages 10.1 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. UCLA averages 38.2 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +4.4. The Bruins average 15.9 assists and 14.6 turnovers a game. They force 13.7 turnovers a game on defense. UCLA averages 6.2 blocks and 6.4 steals a game.

The Pac-10 is wide open this year and either of these teams could win it. The winner of this game will have an early leg up in the standings. Washington has a chance to do something they have only done twice before, in 2006 and 1997. That is sweep the 2 southern California schools in the same road trip. Washington is one of the nation’s top rebounding teams. Both of these teams force a lot of turnovers so whom ever protects the ball best might have the edge. UCLA has more depth and balanced scoring than Washington.