UCLA v. N. Arizona preview

So what do we know about the UCLA Game tonight? Well, for one thing, that despite what Prep Stars Recruiting Handbook says, Lavin is likely going to be in Los Angeles, and not at some game on the east coast so that he can attend Dan Gadzuric's high school team's game. Nope, he'll most likely be right here at Pauley. Geez, I don't know who makes that stuff up.

UCLA is now 4-1, and last Saturday night's game against Cal State Fullerton in which the Bruins just hammered CSUF 120-91 has almost made people forget about those other guys in powder blue. . . UNC who? The Bruins are back up in the polls to No. 11, Kris Johnson is back, in a big way, and J.R. Henderson scored 23 points for UCLA while Johnson had 15 points off the bench. It's getting better all the time.

UCLA's offense has been pretty amazing in the last four games, averaging 91.8 ppg. J.R., who's been playing center leads the Bruins in scoring and rebounding at 20.2 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Toby, still prone to overdribble and overshoot, didn't do either on Saturday night, and he's averaging 18 points per game while Baron is hitting on limited playing time 13.6 ppg and 4.8 assists, shooting 68% from the field.

Hey Lavin, play him more. He's the reason we're paying for those tickets. He's the show.

And what happened to Brandon Loyd anyway. Don't look for him to start now that Kris is back.

That they're 4-3, but are having "team chemistry problems" in the early part of its season. The Lumberjacks, who returned all five starters from last season, won 21 games and the Big Sky Conference, but did not win the conference tournament.

Guard Michael McNair missed the first six games with an ankle injury, but did score 12 points in his first game, a 91-63 rout of Western Oregon on Saturday. Kawika Anika also made his debut and added six points and 10 assists. Dan McClintock scored 24 points and is shooting 66 percent from the field. Andrew Mavis, who has a team-high 17 three-pointers, leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game. Ross Land (11.6 ppg) and McClintock (10.9 ppg) are the other players in double figures for Northern Arizona.

UCLA Bruins

NO. PLAYER              POS    HT     WT    CLASS
--  ------              ---    --     --    -----
 3  Billy Knight        G-F    6-4    186     FR
 4  Kevin Daley          F     6-6    185     SO
 5  Baron Davis          G     6-1    205     FR
11  Todd Ramasar        G-F    6-4    195     FR
12  Toby Bailey          G     6-5    208     SR
13  Travis Reed          F     6-6    243     FR
20  Brandon Loyd         G     5-10   200     JR
21  Ryan Bailey          G     6-1    207     SO
22  Rico Hines           G     6-3    207     FR
25  Earl Watson          G     6-0    183     FR
30  Sean Farnham         F     6-6    210     SO
34  Jelani McCoy         C     6-10   237     JR *
52  J.R. Henderson       F     6-8    233     SR
54  Kris Johnson        G-F    6-4    239     SR

* - suspended

Northern Arizona

NO. PLAYER              POS    HT    WT    CLASS
--  ------              ---    --    --    -----
 5  Patrick McGrath      F     6-6   220     JR
12  Kyle Russell         G     6-2   205     SO
20  Michael McNair       G     6-3   185     JR
21  Kawika Akina         G     5-10  175     JR
22  Andrew Mavis         F     6-6   215     SR
23  Ross Land            G     6-5   195     SO
24  Ryan Abbott          G     6-3   195     SR
30  Rod Hutchings        G     5-7   170     SO
32  Billy Hix            F     6-7   230     SO
40  Andrew Wolthers      F     6-8   220     SO
43  Casey Frank          C     6-9   240     JR
45  Brendon Polyblank   G-F    6-5   210     FR
50  Dan McClintock       C     7-0   255     SO