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UCLA Basketball vs Central Arkansas: Preview, TV, radio, live stream, stats and more

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 03: Thomas Welsh
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 03: Thomas Welsh /
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SACRAMENTO, CA – MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA – MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

UCLA Basketball vs. Central Arkansas Preview

Projected Starters:

UCLA – G Aaron Holiday, G Jaylen Hands, F Kris Wilkes, F Gyorgy Goloman, C Thomas Welsh

Central Arkansas – G Thatch Unruh, G Jordan Howard, F Ethan Lee, F Aaron Weidenaar, C Haden Koval

Head Coaches:

UCLA – Steve Alford | Central Arkansas – Russ Pennell

Rosters:

UCLA | Central Arkansas

Related Story: What suspensions should be given to the Bruins?

UCLA offense vs. Central Arkansas defense

Against a team of lesser value, Central Arkansas showed that they can get up and down the court, which we will get into in a second. Against a team of greater value, nothing seemed to go right.

That is what happened to the Bears when they faced another Bears team, Baylor. In their season opener, Central Arkansas allowed Baylor to shoot a record-best 66.1% from the field. It gets worse. Baylor shot 70.6% from behind the line.

If the Bruins can get their shots to fall, they should easily be able to take out Central Arkansas. The Bruins will try to get up and down the court quickly, so if they have the outside shots falling, it will only help them dominate the Bears.

The thing is, UCLA also has to have their high-percentage shots falling. Against Georgia Tech, the Bruins missed an unprecedented amount of shots in the paint. From inside the arc, the Bruins shot a dreadful, .425 (compare that to the .591 they shot last season).

We can chock it up to nerves of the first game and the distraction of the scandal, but the Bruins have to make sure the short shot makes it in the bucket and set themselves up to take good outside shots. One way to do that, Welsh and Holiday need to play with some more aggression.

UCLA defense vs. Central Arkansas offense

So what can the Bears do with the ball? Well if they find a rhythm like they did against University of the Ozarks, they can shoot well over 55 percent. The strange thing is, that this could happen easier than you think against the Bruins. UCLA did not show a lot of defensive growth against GT but they had their moments.

It is unfortunate that the Bruins lost the likes of Hill and Riley, who would have made their presence in the paint known. And unfortunately for Welsh, though he had 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, we still saw a bit of the matador defense from him (and few other Bruin players) as GT was able to get past UCLA on their way to the basket.

The Bruins need to also get used to finishing games. Against Georgia Tech, UCLA went on an 11-0 run to start the second half, but tried to coast to the end. The Bruins were able to hold off the Yellow Jackets, but it still did not stop what seemed to be a bit of complacency with UCLA, something we have seen in the last few seasons with Alford.