UA News

The Wildcat basketball team will face No. 9 UCLA on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

The Arizona Wildcats (11-5, 2-2 Pac-10) travel to Westwood to take on No. 9 UCLA (13-2, 3-0 Pac-10) Thursday at Pauley Pavilion. This is Arizona's second game this season against a nationally ranked opponent, having defeated No. 4 Gonzaga, 69-64, on Dec. 14

Arizona used a 17-1 advantage from the line and a 22-7 advantage in turnover points to defeat Oregon State, 64-47, Saturday afternoon. The 47 points allowed was the fewest by the UA defense this season. Chase Budinger led all scorers with 24 points, while Jordan Hill added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bruins enter Thursday's contest with a 13-2 record (3-0 Pac-10) following Sunday's 64-60 win at USC. 

This marks the 77th meeting of the two schools with UCLA holding a 45-31 series advantage. The UA has won 11 of the last 21 meetings in the series, which dates back to Feb. 19, 1923, but UCLA has won seven consecutive games, including the last meeting, a 68-66 triumph in Tucson on March 2, 2008. 

All-time, Arizona is 18-14 in series games played in Tucson, 12-28 in Westwood, and 1-3 in neutral-site games.

Chase Budinger led Arizona to a sweep of the Oregon schools last week by averaging 22.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the two games. In posting consecutive 20-point games, Budinger shot .536 (15-of-28) from the field, .846 from the line (11-of-13) and notched a blocked shot and three steals. On the year, Budinger is averaging 17.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, while shooting .468 from the field.

The Wildcats dialed up the defense en route to those two wins, by allowing an average of 49.5 points per game. 

Junior Jordan Hill continues to prove himself to be one of the best big men in the nation, as he collected his 11th double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds Saturday against Oregon State. To date, the 6-foot-10 Hill has been in double figures in scoring 14 times and 12 times in rebounding.  He currently leads the Pac-10 with those 11 double-doubles and his 12.0 rebounds per game average.

Chase Budinger enters the week needing just six points to move into 20th place on Arizona's career points scored list. Currently, Budinger has scored 1,344 career points in his 81-game career. Ernie McCray (1958-60) occupies the 20th spot on the scoring list at 1,349 points. At his current pace, Budinger could find himself inside the top 15 after just three collegiate seasons.

Following Thursday's contest, Arizona moves across town to face USC. Tip-off is on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. MST and can be seen on FS Arizona.