ucla game 11/18

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SoCalHoops College News

UCLA To Play Pump California
All-Stars Tonight--(Nov. 18, 1999)

There's still plenty of time to get over to Pauley Pavilion, and we're pretty sure that this game won't be a total sellout so there should be plenty of tickets available at the box office. The injury-depleted UCLA Bruins will take on the Double Pump California All-Stars tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the last exhibition game of the season for the Bruins.

This is the "Midwest" California All-Stars team, and that particular group of Pump players has a somewhat less than stellar record of 2-10 overall, with wins at Northern Illinois (87-80) on Nov. 9 and at Washington (94-87) on Nov. 11. Last weekend, the All-Stars lost two games - at USC (102-90) on Saturday and at Hawaii (92-84) on Sunday.

UCLA will probably not have Ryan Bailey for the game, who has tendinitis, nor will they have Ray Young either, who may still undergo surgery for an injury sustained to his thumb during the Preview Day fiasco. . . er, festivities. Likewise, while JaRon Rush is not likely to play given what he did to his forearm during the slam dunk "contest" at the Preview Day. In fact there are rumors that JaRon is not even in town, but back in Kansas City taking care of personal business, at least that's what the Daily News reported yesterday. Dan Gadzuric is also being bothered by his persistent tendinitis in his knees and is questionable.

Last week, the Bruins only had 6 available roster players for their exhibition debut against the Lithuanians. They won fairly easily. The Pumps have hinted that they may be able to put together Charles O'Bannon, Pooh Richardson, Mitchell Butler and Don McLean to play tonight. Whether they get them all remains to be seen. But one thing is certain for Lavin's squad, at least if Bill Plaschke of the LA Times is going to be satisfied: The Bruins had better hope they win.

We'll have a report on the game later tonight. See you there.