IU basketball game day essentials: Hoosiers host UCLA in a striped out Assembly Hall

Game Day Essentials:

Indiana (15-10, 6-8) vs. UCLA (18-7, 9-5)

• Tip Time: 8 p.m. Eastern, Friday
• Location: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222), Bloomington, Ind.
• Television: FOX (Jason Benetti, Robbie Hummel)
• Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
• Stream: Fox Sports 
• Point Spread:  UCLA is a 1.5-point favorite
• KenPom Projected Score:  UCLA 71 Indiana 69
• History: Series tied, 6-6.
• Last Meeting: UCLA 54, IU 49 on March 17, 2007, in Sacramento
• Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)

IU basketball to wear special edition uniforms vs. UCLA

IU basketball’s game against UCLA will be a stripe out

UCLA’s Mick Cronin

Mick Cronin is serving in his sixth season as head coach of the UCLA men’s basketball program, and his 22nd season as a coach overall. Across those years, he has compiled a 498-231 overall record with three teams.

Cronin began his first stint as a head coach with Murray State, where he led an impressive program turnaround in three seasons. After getting hired in 2003, Cronin led the Racers to a 28-6 overall record and a 14-2 finish in the Ohio Valley Conference. Cronin’s squad would win the OVC Tournament, earning them a berth in the NCAA Tournament in his first season. Cronin would also be named the OVC regular season and tournament champions in his third and final season with the program.

Cronin was hired as Cincinnati’s head coach in the spring of 2006, and had the longest stint of his career there so far. Across 13 seasons, he compiled a 296-147 overall record with nine NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure. The Bearcats finished atop the American Athletic Conference twice, with the second being Cronin’s most impressive season with the program. UC finished 31-5 in that 2017-18 season, but lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In the Spring of 2019, Cronin was announced head coach for UCLA. So far, he has compiled a 133-59 overall record, with three NCAA Tournament appearances. His best regular season came in the 2022-23 season, where the Bruins finished 31-6 and atop of the Pac 12. Postseason wise, UCLA came close to the title in the 2020-21 season, but fell in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA’s results and roster

UCLA’s Game Notes (via UCLA Athletics)

CATCHING UP ON THE BRUINS

• The Bruins have gone 13-1 at home this season and 5-6 in road and neutral-site contests.
• UCLA has gone 6-2 in games decided by five points or fewer, including a 63-61 win last week against Michigan State.
• This marks the 106th basketball season at UCLA and the sixth year with head coach Mick Cronin at the helm.
• The Bruins went 5-1 in December and have posted a 7-5 record through January and February.
• The Bruins have gone 61-3 since the start of the 2019-20 season when holding the opposition to fewer than 60 points.
• This season, UCLA has posted a perfect 12-0 mark when holding the opposing team to 65 or fewer points.
• Junior Tyler Bilodeau has averaged 14.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24 games, shooting 50.4 percent from the field.
• Sophomore Eric Dailey Jr. ranks second on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.2 RPG).
• Through games played Tuesday, Feb. 11, UCLA ranked No. 22 in the nation in scoring defense (64.6 ppg).

TALENTED TYLER

Junior Tyler Bilodeau became UCLA’s first player to have made seven (or more) threes in any game on Tuesday night since late last season, when Dylan Andrews shot 7-for-9 from 3-point distance in a win over Oregon State at the Pac-12 Tournament (March 13, 2024). Bilodeau was 7-for-12 from long-range against Illinois on Tuesday evening, shooting 9-for17 overall. The 6-foot-9 forward from Kennewick, Wash., has averaged a team-leading 14.3 points per game. Bilodeau has shot 50.4 percent overall and 43.2 percent from 3-point distance (32-of-74). In a 76-74 loss to North Carolina on Dec. 21, 2024, Bilodeau totaled a career-high-tying 26 points at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

TOP DEFENDER

Senior guard Kobe Johnson has totaled 201 steals in 116 career games (1.7 spg). He enters this Friday’s game with a team-best 45 steals (Skyy Clark has 33), having registered 1.8 steals per game in 25 contests as a senior. He ranked seventh among all Big Ten players (through Tuesday, Feb. 11) in steals per game. Johnson had six steals in a win over Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 22, 2024), the third time in his career he has logged six in a game. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wis., Johnson earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors the past two seasons at USC. Over the previous two seasons (64 games), he averaged 10.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.2 steals per contest while at USC.

SKYY’S THE LIMIT

Junior guard Skyy Clark has tallied a team-best assist-turnover ratio of 2.65 (with 69 assists, 26 turnovers). Clark joined the Bruins’ program in the summer of 2024 after having averaged a team-leading 13.2 points per game as a sophomore at Louisville last season. He enters this Friday’s game with UCLA’s third-highest assist total (69), behind Kobe Johnson (73) and Dylan Andrews (71). Clark scored a team-leading 14 points, sinking six of seven free throws, in UCLA’s 63-61 win at home last week against No. 9-ranked Michigan State. He has shot 41.2 percent from 3-point range in the Bruins’ past eight games (14-for-34). Clark has scored at least 10 points in seven games this season.

UCLA’s KenPom notable numbers:

(out of 364 teams)

Tempo – No. 313 (Offense No. 225 / Defense No. 247)

Offensive Efficiency – No. 44

• The Bruins come into tonight with a 53.1% effective field goal percentage (No. 78). They’re shooting 34.8% on 3s (No. 114) and 53.6% on 2s as a team (No. 92).
• They assist on made field goals at a decent 58.4% rate (No. 50).
• They also do well at limiting turnovers with a 15.7% rate (No. 65). Their block rate (6.7%) and steal rate (7.9%) are both top 25 in Division 1.
• Much like Michigan State, UCLA sees a large portion of their point distribution coming off of 2s. (53% of total points, No. 81).  While they shoot threes fairly well, they don’t shoot a high volume (3PA/FGA = 35.8%, No. 264).

Defensive Efficiency – No. 11

• UCLA has held opponents to a 50% effective field goal percentage on the year (No. 131). Teams are shooting 31.9% on 3s (No. 88) and 51.6% on 2s (No. 212).
• The Bruins are the best team in he country when it comes to forcing turnovers. They have the highest rate in all of Division 1 at 24%, along with a 12.8% steal rate (No. 26).
• Opponents are finding the most success at the free throw line in terms of point distribution. Teams are scoring 21.4% of their points from the line (No. 52).  Teams are getting to the line a lot, with opposing free throw attempts are 36.9% of field goal attempts, No. 272.
• Teams are shooting a very high volume of threes against the Bruins, with 3PA/FGA equal to 44.8%, No. 334.

OG’s Pick

Win/Loss Record: 18-4

Predicting is hard, folks.

UCLA is coming off a loss at Illinois after a seven game winning streak with some impressive upsets against both Michigan State and Wisconsin. They’re a team many had slated to finish in the top-3 of the conference, and they look to continue to climb the standings.

Stats and metrics wise, the Bruins are actually fairly similar to Michigan State. They’re not a high-volume perimeter shooting team, they like to get inside with their guards, and their defense anchors them in most games. However, if all of those things become relied on, and Indiana can find the right adjustments to combat them, don’t overlook the Hoosiers. Especially with a home crowd.

Now, am I ready to pick Indiana to win? No Lloyd, but I’m telling you there’s a chance.

PICK: UCLA 71 – Indiana 68

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