UW Men's Basketball Preview: #25 UCLA
UW Huskies (8-4, Pac-12) vs. #25 UCLA (9-4, Pac-12)
Washington opens Pac-12 play hosting the Bruins at 8 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena.
UW Opens Pac-12 Play at Home vs. UCLA
The Huskies open up the Pac-12 Conference season at home for the first time since the 2011-12 season as they host UCLA on Friday, Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1 with Aaron Goldsmith and Casey Jacobsen on the call. Additionally, fans can tune into KOMO 1000AM, FM 97.7, Sirius 145 or XM 197 to hear Bob Rondeau and Jason Hamilton call the action. UCLA leads the all-time series 96-40 while Washington has won eight of the last 10 played at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Coach
Head Coach Lorenzo Romar, in his 14th year at Washington, has amassed a 278-163 (.630) during his time in Seattle and an overall mark of 371-251 (.596) in 19 seasons. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA tournament six times including three Sweet 16 appearances.
Quick Hitters
• The Huskies are 2-2 when facing the No. 25 team in the country with all four of those meetings coming at Alaska Airlines Arena
• The Huskies have won three of their last four games when taking on a top 25 opponent at home
• Senior guard Andrew Andrews streak of 23-straight double-digit scoring games is tied for the fifth-longest in the nation and is the longest by any player in a Power Five Conference
• Andrews has connected on 18 straight from the FT line dating back to the Montana game on Dec. 12 ... his 104 FT attempts are sixth in the NCAA and 1st in the Pac-12 ... additionally
• Over the last two games, Malik Dime has made an impact off the bench averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks while shooting 86.7 percent from the field in 21.0 minutes per game
• Dime has only missed two shots over the last four games going 15-of-17 in that span
• Only UW and Oregon State have two players averaging over six points per game off the bench with no starts ... David Crisp is putting up 10.3 while Malik Dime is averaging 6.3 - Tres Tinkle (11.6) and Stephen Thompson, Jr. (9.3) are putting up similar numbers for the Beavers without starting a single game
• All eight of UW’s top rotation have scored in double figures at least once this season led by Andrew Andrews who has yet to score under 12 points and has put up 10 or more for 23-straight games dating back to last season
• Marquese Chriss not only leads the team in FG percentage at 55.0 percent, but he also ranks sixth nationally amongst Division I freshman who are averaging at least 5 attempts a game
• Through 12 games, Andrews has totaled 51 assists, including a career-high eight against Seattle U ... He’s easily on pace to surpass his single-season totals as a freshman (72), sophomore (83) and junior (67).
• Senior Andrew Andrews is became the 23rd player in UW history to reach 1,300 career points after scoring 15 against Oakland ... Andrews is now at 1,336 total points and is 18th all-time at UW
• Since the addition of the 3-point line, only Andrew Andrews and former UW standout C.J. Wilcox have recorded over 1,300 points, 400 rebounds and 140 3-point FGs made during their career at UW - Wilcox finished his career with 1,880 points, 441 rebounds and a UW record 301 3FG made
• Andrews continues to lead the Pac-12 in scoring at 19.7 points per outing ... Washington also boasts the leading Pac-12 scorer on the women’s side in junior Kelsey Plum (28.1 ppg)
• In UW’s eight wins, they are averaging a 20.6-point margin of victory, shooting 45.2 percent from the field and scoring an average of 87.8 points per game
Multiple Scoring Threats
The Huskies have a range of scoring threats this season as six different Huskies have led the team in scoring at least once through 12 games. Additionally eight Huskies have reached double figures at least once with three (Andrews, Chriss, Murray) posting two or more 20-point games. In eight of its 12 games this season, at least four Dawgs have scored 10 points or more.
Blocks For Days
Despite UW’s tallest player coming in at 6-9, the Huskies currently lead the nation in blocks per game for the second-straight year as they are averaging 7.3 per outing. They are also tied for first in total blocks with 88 through 12 games. Junior college transfer Malik Dime leads the charge as he is almost 3 a game (2.92) which is good for 14th in the nation. Additionally, Dime is currently on pace to set the UW single-season blocks record (85 - Robert Upshaw, 2014-15, 19 games).
