Almost 24 hours before tipoff Saturday, students began lining up to claim a seat for the Bruins’ sold-out regular-season finale.

The morning of the game, Jaime Jaquez Jr. was one of several players to hand out food and engage with the waiting students. But just three years ago as a freshman, he remembers a much different story.

“There was no one at the games,” the senior guard/forward said. “It was $2 tickets to come to UCLA. We were on a mission to put UCLA back on top, put UCLA basketball to where it needs to be and where it should be — where it belongs.”

In the 2019-2020 season, UCLA men’s basketball put up a 19-12 record before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the postseason, but a quick turnaround for the blue and gold has brought a Final Four run, a Sweet 16 appearance and a chance to add even more to the senior’s legacy.

Jaquez was one of five players honored for Senior Night prior to Saturday’s contest. Though it had already wrapped up the Pac-12 regular-season title, UCLA put an exclamation point on its campaign by finishing undefeated at home for the first time since the 2006-2007 season with a nine-point win in a top-10 matchup against Arizona.

In his final contest at Pauley Pavilion, Jaquez recorded his seventh double-double of the season with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds and currently stands as a frontrunner for Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Another player celebrating the end of a storied career in Westwood with the most games played in program history, fifth-year guard David Singleton made five 3-pointers to put up 17 points Saturday in his first start in over a month. Singleton almost doubled his previous best season scoring average this year, finishing the regular season averaging 9.4 points per game.

Both Jaquez and Singleton hail from Southern California and have spent their entire collegiate careers in Westwood, though the latter joined the program a year prior to Jaquez in 2018.

“Two guys from SoCal – I mean, we’re living a dream right now,” Jaquez said. “To win the way we did on our home court, get ready to go to Vegas and enjoy this Pac-12 championship. It’s literally like a script, storybook to me.”

With junior guard Jaylen Clark sustaining what appeared to be a significant injury in the second half of Saturday’s win, it is likely Singleton will take on a larger role in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments. Coach Mick Cronin, however, doesn’t doubt whether the guard has it in him.

“He is such a leader for our team,” Cronin said. “He is the vocal leader, way more than Tyger (redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell) and Jaime.”

Campbell, who has averaged four assists and just under 18 points over the last four games, will also likely see increased pressure to sustain his uptick in production. Campbell said there are still many areas he is working to improve on in order to help lead the Bruins to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

“I got to keep getting better – get better at talking on defense, get better at leading the guys, and just going into March, I got to make sure that everybody’s ready,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of things I want to get better at if I want to lead this team to another Final Four appearance, but I think I can do it.”

Regular reserve redshirt senior forward/center Kenneth Nwuba and fifth-year guard Russell Stong were also given the start Saturday night after being honored before the game, though neither attempted a field goal in their 13 combined minutes.

With then-No. 2 Alabama and then-No. 3 Kansas each taking a loss earlier in the day Saturday, UCLA now stands as a likely No. 1 seed in March Madness as the postseason looms.

Though Cronin said the blue and gold has the potential to hoist the trophy at the end of the season, it will have to make sure it is prepared to handle anything that may come its way.

“The recipe for success in March, usually, aside from talent, is a great point guard and some senior leadership like a guy like Jaime Jaquez,” Cronin said. “So yeah, man, we got a chance. But as you know, that tournament’s crazy. It isn’t March Normal.”

Jaquez offered similar sentiments and said the team can’t afford to loosen up as it enters the next part of the season.

“We did the regular season part. We accomplished what we needed to accomplish,” Jaquez said. “Now we got to go on to the next half of this. To me, it’s like a whole new season.”