LOS ANGELES - The Arizona men's basketball team checks in at No. 5 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 and will conclude the final week of the regular season with a roadtrip to Los Angeles for two games. The first game of the trip sends the Wildcats to Pauley Pavilion for the final time as members of the Pac-12 Conference, where they will take on UCLA.
The game starts at 7:30 p.m. MST on ESPN with Dave Pasch and former Wildcat Richard Jefferson on the call.
STARTING FIVE
1) Senior Oumar Ballo has posted NINE consecutive double-doubles, something no Arizona player has done Al Fleming had 10 straight during the 1974-75 season. He recently became the 13th player in Arizona history with 1,000 points & 750 rebounds (list on pg. 4.)
2) Senior Caleb Love is an All-American candidate and a leader for Pac-12 Player of the Year. He ranks second in Pac-12 play in scoring (21.2) and leads the league in 3FG made per game (3.17). In eight Pac-12 road games, he's averaging 23.3 ppg and shooting 43.5% on 3FG.
3) Pelle Larsson needs 1 point to become the 55th player in Arizona history to reach 1,000.
4) Arizona is averaging 90.3 points per game, second-most in the country (Alabama - 90.9)
5) The Wildcats have scored 100+ points in conference play four times this season, the most since 2003-04 (4); Overall, UA has scored 100+ points in seven games this season - the most in a season since doing it eight times in 1990-91.
SERIES VS. UCLA
• Arizona trails the all-time series against UCLA, 49-63.
• The Wildcats are 5-2 vs. UCLA under Tommy Lloyd, but 0-2 at Pauley Pavilion
NOTING THE WILDCATS
• Entering the final week of the regular season, Arizona has secured a top two seed at the Pac-12 tournament. A win by the Wildcats tonight coupled with a loss by WSU clinches the Pac-12 regular season outright for UA. A win by both teams tonight means Arizona must also win on Saturday at USC to win the conference outright.
• The Wildcats have eight wins in Quad 1 of the NET rankings. Only Houston, Purdue and UConn (10) have more.
• Sophomore Kylan Boswell is averaging 13.3 points, 3.3 assists and shooting 45.9% from the 3-point line over the last seven games. He had career-high 19 vs. Oregon.
• Arizona went 10-1 at home in conference play, winning by an average of 20.2 points per game. It is the largest average margin of victory at home in Pac-12 play since 2014-15 (23.8)
• According to KenPom.com, Arizona's offense ranks sixth in the country while the defense is ranked 14th. UCLA is ranked 170th and 50th, respectively.
• The Wildcats have 10+ offensive rebounds in 25 of 29 games, and the last 14 straight.
• Arizona ranks second in the country in total rebounds/game (43.1) and third in the country in rebound margin at +11.0 per game.
• Love was also named to the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award Midseason Watch Lists and is one of 10 players still in the running for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award.
• Keshad Johnson is one of 10 players named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award late season watch list. He's averaging 11.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and shooting a career-best 36.1% from the 3-point line. He reached 1,000 career points with a 21-point effort against Oregon on March 2.
• Johnson has scored in double figures 21 out of 28 games this season at Arizona. In his four seasons, and 113 games at San Diego State, he scored in double figures 25 times. He has set single-game career highs in points, assists, steals, blocks, FGM, FGA, 3FGM, 3FGA this season with the Wildcats. Against Washington, he scored 16 points and matched his career-high with 3 blocks.
• Sophomore Jaden Bradley had 25 assists and just four turnovers over the last nine games. He scored 14 points at Colorado on Feb. 10 and followed it up with a career-high 21 points against Arizona State in Tucson. For the season, Bradley has a 2.52 assist-to-turnover ratio (63:25).
• According to EvanMiya.com, Bradley is the top rated defensive player in the Pac-12 and sixth overall in the COUNTRY. His DPBR is 4.03 suggests that for every 100 possessions on defense when he is on the court, Arizona will allow 4.03 fewer points than an average D1 player.
• Freshman guard KJ Lewis is averaging 5.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. He has also posted an assist-to-turnover of 2.5 this season, the ninth-best ratio of freshmen in the country with at least 55 assists. He has scored in double figures five times this year and is three assists shy of breaking into the Top 10 list for steals by a freshman in Arizona history.
• Motiejus Krivas is averaging 6.0 points and 4.3 rebounds while playing 12.5 minutes per game this season. The 7-foot-2 post player from Lithuania is also 46-59 (78.0%) at the free throw line and is shooting 56.6% from the floor. His top offensive game came on Nov. 17 when he scored 20 points against Belmont.
• Tommy Lloyd is 47-3 at McKale Center as the head coach of Arizona (15-1 this year).
• Arizona has 246 steals this season, marking the third straight season with 200+ steals. The last time Arizona did that in three seasons in a row was 2013-15. To reach the top 10 in Arizona single-season steals, the Wildcats would need to get to 275.
• The Arizona offense has posted a 10-0 run 27 times this season, the sixth-most in the country. Conversely, the Arizona defense has surrendered just eight runs of 10-0 or better, per EvanMiya.com.
• The Wildcats have been ranked 55 straight weeks and 55 out of 57 weeks under head coach Tommy Lloyd. They have been in Top 10 for 44 weeks and in the Top 5 for 24 weeks.
• Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his third season with the Wildcats and has a record of 84-17, the second-most wins of any team in the country over that span. Lloyd is the first coach in Arizona history and the seventh in the history of the Pac-12 to win 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons.
• Under Lloyd, Arizona has recorded 20+ assists in 52 out of 101 games to lead the nation.
• The 2023-24 season marks the 119th year of men's basketball for the University of Arizona, and the Wildcats have an all-time record of 1,885-983.
