UCLA Basketball at Utah 2019: Gameday info and preview

The UCLA Basketball team tries to finish the regular season with a win over Utah after an embarrassing loss at Colorado.

The UCLA Basketball team was on fire, but then they were thoroughly extinguished by the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday night. Whatever momentum they had built up in the last few weeks is all but depleted now.

This is not good for a team that needs to secure a Pac-12 Tournament first round bye. Unfortunately, it gets tougher as the Bruins are set to do battle with Utah and it does not look hopeful.

Here is everything you need to know about UCLA vs. Utah…

UCLA Basketball vs. Utah Game Day Info

Records: UCLA Bruins 16-14, 9-8 (T-5th) | Utah Utes 16-13, 10-7 (3rd)

Location: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, UT

Tipoff: 4:00 p.m. PT

TV: Pac-12 Network

Live Stream: Pac-12 Live

Radio: AM 570 or AM 1150 (Los Angeles)

Satellite Radio: Sirius – Ch. 976 | XM – Ch. 385

OnlineRadio: Tune-In

Odds: Colorado -5.5 | O/U 190

Last Game: Colorado d. UCLA, 93-68 | Utah d. USC, 83-74

ESPN Win Predictor: Utah 59.9% – UCLA 40.1%

Projected Starters:

UCLA – G Jaylen Hands, G David Singleton, F Kris Wilkes, F Jalen Hill, C Moses Brown

Utah – G Sedrick Barefield, G Parker Van Dyke, F Timmy Allen, F Donnie Tillman, F Novak Topalovic

Head Coaches:  UCLA (interim) – Murry Bartow | Utah – Larry Krystowiak

Rosters: UCLA | Utah

UCLA Basketball vs. Utah: Stats, Final Word and Prediction

UCLA Key Individual Stats :

• Kris Wilkes – 17.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .440 FG%
• Moses Brown – 10.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg, .620 FG%
• Jaylen Hands – 13.9 ppg, 6.3 apg, 3.5 rpg

Utah Key Individual Stats:

• Sedrick Barefield – 16.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 4.0 apg
• Timmy Allen – 12.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg, .581 FG%
• Donnie Tillman – 10.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, .440 FG%

UCLA vs. Utah Team Stats

Pac-12 Standings

Players to Watch

• The entire team – UCLA needs to play a complete game, they need to play as a team and they need to do it now.

Last Word

The UCLA basketball team had a chance to stay ahead of the curve in the Pac-12 standings. Unfortunately, they blew it on Thursday when they played an uninspired game at Colorado. UCLA did not have a great start to that game, but it was not horrible either, yet they could not find a way to stay with Colorado who slowly pulled away in the second half and embarrassed UCLA.

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With that loss went their position in third place in the standings and are now in a three-way tie for 5th place. There are several scenarios in which the Bruins could still lock up a first-round bye, but the bottom line is that they just need to win.

That is not as easy as it sounds as the Bruins take on Utah in the SLC who has been pretty hot in their own right. On top of that, the Utes are going to use their 22-point comeback win at Pauley Pavilion last month as motivation.

But they are not the only ones that will use that as motivation. This week, Kris Wilkes said that the Bruins felt disrespected by Utah in that win as the Utes were jumping around and celebrating in front of the UCLA bench in that last second win.

Hey, whatever works.

The point is that UCLA needs to get their act together right now if they want to extend their time in the postseason. The Bruins should be well motivated, but now they have to go out and act on that motivation and not play bad basketball. This is still a talented team and they have to play as one unit. Limiting mistakes would also be nice but for the most part.

Unfortunately, that will not happen.

Prediction: Utah 91 – UCLA 78