UCLA men’s basketball seeks flawless East Coast trip in match against Kentucky

From streetball to the main stage, New York City has historically been coined the mecca of basketball.

At the forefront is Madison Square Garden, widely recognized as the most famous basketball arena in the world and home to some of the biggest names in live sports and entertainment – and for one evening, the Bruins.

Following its first statement win of the season against No. 20 Maryland, No. 16 UCLA men’s basketball (9-2, 2-0 Pac-12) will take the train north to Manhattan for a bout with No. 13 Kentucky (7-2) on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic. Wednesday’s win over the Terrapins was the blue and gold’s first of the season over a ranked team, and it will get a chance to pick up another one over a fellow blue blood.

The nationally televised contest will mark the Bruins’ first time playing in Madison Square Garden since 2013, when they lost to another blue blood in Duke.

“Excitement level is off the charts,” said fifth-year guard David Singleton. “Very excited to play such a great team, a great program against our great program. It’s going to be a great matchup, very excited for both teams.”

Singleton – who recorded a season-best 18 points off the bench Wednesday while making 4-of-5 3-point attempts – added that the decision to take the train up from College Park is just another bonding experience for a team that understands the importance of growing team morale.

“We hang out together all the time. Taking the train will be just another memory,” Singleton said. “Stuff like that, it builds team chemistry, and team chemistry is half the battle when you step out on the court.”

Standing in the way of a perfect East Coast road trip for the Bruins is forward Oscar Tshiebwe and the Wildcats, who are riding a four-game winning streak but have dropped two of three marquee matchups, much like UCLA.

Tshiebwe, who is the reigning unanimous National Player of the Year, has slightly regressed statistically to 16.1 points and 13.3 rebounds per contest, down from 17.4 and 15.1 last season, respectively, though he still ranks second nationally on the glass. But Tshiebwe is fresh off a season-high 28-point game and has recorded double-digit rebounds in all but one contest, in which he played just 13 minutes in a blowout.

Tshiebwe will match up inside with Adem Bona, who is coming off one of the best performances of his young career Wednesday. The freshman forward put up 14 points while missing just one of his eight shot attempts, grabbing seven rebounds and swatting a shot away.

Coach Mick Cronin said Bona is coming into his own as a lob threat and interior presence and said the growth of the team’s freshman class as a whole will be a key to unlocking the Bruins’ potential.

“We’ve got to get him (Bona) the ball more, he’s starting to get confident in his offense,” Cronin said. “Your rate of improvement depends on your attitude and your effort and he’s A-plus – so is Amari (freshman guard Amari Bailey), all our freshman are – and that’s why their rate of improvement is going to help us get to where we can hopefully get to in March.”

The Wildcats possess other weapons outside of Tshiebwe, most notably guard Cason Wallace, Illinois State transfer guard Antonio Reeves and forward Jacob Toppin, the younger brother of New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin.

Both Reeves and Wallace have shot right around 50% from long range for a team that has made just under 40% of their shots from deep this season. However, Kentucky’s offense minus Tshiebwe has proven to be shaky at times, and UCLA presents one of its toughest challenges yet.

The Bruins have held their opponents to a 31% clip from long range and just 63 points per game this season, forcing opponents to make tough shots while routinely getting in passing lanes to force turnovers. Winning the rebounding battle will be a tall task against a top-20 team on the boards, however, after they grabbed three less than the Terps on Wednesday despite the blowout.

“We proved that we can play 40 minutes of defense even when we were up such a huge margin,” Singleton said. “We proved we have it in us and the expectations are probably higher for Coach but he believes in us, he trusts us.”

But regardless of the high stakes Saturday, senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said he and the team are simply eager to get a chance to compete in one of the biggest venues in basketball.

“I’ve played at Rucker Park before in New York, but I’m extremely excited to play in MSG, very excited for that,” Jaquez said.

The Bruins and Wildcats will tip off at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday.