Game Day Essentials:
Indiana (14-7, 5-5) vs. UCLA (15-6, 7-3)
- Tip Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Saturday
- Location: Pauley Pavilion (13,800), Los Angeles, Calif.
- Television: Peacock (Guy Huberman, Matt Muehlebach)
- Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
- Stream: Peacock
- Point Spread: UCLA is around a 3.5-point favorite
- KenPom Projected Score: Indiana 71 UCLA 74
- History: UCLA leads 7-6
- Last Meeting: UCLA 72, IU 68 on Feb. 14, 2025, in Bloomington
- Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)
UCLA’s Mick Cronin
Once a notable name in Indiana’s head coaching search last year, Mick Cronin returns to the Bruins for his seventh season as head coach. He has gathered a 153-70 overall record in his stint with the Bruins.
Cronin began his head coaching career at Murray State in 2003. He had a short three-season stint with the Racers, but made it count with two OVC regular season championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances. He was hired to become Cincinnati’s head coach in 2006 and enjoyed 13 seasons with the Bearcats. Cronin led UC to nine straight NCAA Tournaments from 2011 to 2019. He also helped the Bearcats win two straight AAC titles in 2018 and 2019.
Cronin was hired by UCLA on April 9, 2019. In both the Pac-12 and Big Ten, he has enjoyed success, appearing in four NCAA Tournaments and winning the Pac-12 in 2023. Cronin’s best finish so far came in the 2020-21 season, where he took the Bruins to the Final Four.
Cronin on Indiana:
“Three things I would tell you about Indiana: (1) They’re great shooting team. They have three of the best shooters in the country. Not the Big Ten. Wilkerson, Dorn, and and Tucker. Secondly, they’re smart. They pass the ball and put you in a lot of tough situations to defend their shooters, meaning they’re extremely well coached. Third, I think they got some tough kids. I haven’t seen Purdue get out hustled, maybe ever, but I saw it the other night when I watched the film. They got some tough hard-nosed kids. They battle you. They don’t beat themselves. And I think they’ve gotten much better if you were to watch from when they played Louisville, Kentucky, you know, to their last four or five games.”
UCLA’s results and roster
| DATE | OPPONENT | LOCATION | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/3/2025 | Eastern Washington | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 80-74 |
| 11/7/2025 | Pepperdine | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 74-63 |
| 11/10/2025 | West Georgia | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 83-62 |
| 11/14/2025 | vs. No. 1 Arizona | Inglewood, Calif. | L 65-69 |
| 11/18/2025 | Sacramento State | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 79-48 |
| 11/21/2025 | Presbyterian | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 86-46 |
| 11/25/2025 | vs. California | San Francisco, Calif. | L 72-80 |
| 12/3/2025 | at Washington | Seattle, Wash. | W 82-80 |
| 12/6/2025 | Oregon | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 74-63 |
| 12/13/2025 | vs. No. 6 Gonzaga | Seattle, Wash. | L 72-82 |
| 12/17/2025 | Arizona State | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 90-77 |
| 12/19/2025 | Cal Poly | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 108-87 |
| 12/23/2025 | UC Riverside | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 97-65 |
| 1/3/2026 | at Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa | L 61-74 |
| 1/6/2026 | at Wisconsin | Madison, Wis. | L 72-80 |
| 1/10/2026 | Maryland | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 67-55 |
| 1/14/2026 | at Penn State | University Park, Penn. | W 71-60 |
| 1/17/2026 | at Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | L 74-86 |
| 1/20/2026 | No. 12 Purdue | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 69-67 |
| 1/24/2026 | Northwestern | Los Angeles, Calif. | W 71-64 |
| 1/28/2026 | at Oregon | Eugene, Ore. | W 73-57 |
UCLA’s game notes (via UCLA Athletics)
ABOUT THE BRUINS
- Tyler Bilodeau has scored in double figures in 17 of 19 games played, totaling 20 points or more in seven games.
- Donovan Dent (13.1 ppg) leads UCLA with 132 assists, averaging 6.6 assists per game (ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten).
- Skyy Clark (89.3%), Tyler Bilodeau (86.0%) and Trent Perry (82.7%) are shooting over 80 percent at the free throw line.
- Trent Perry has scored at least 10 points in eight of UCLA’s last 10 games.
- The Bruins have gone 11-2 this season when committing fewer turnovers than their opposition.
- UCLA has posted a 13-1 record when leading at halftime and has gone 14-1 when building a lead of 10 or more points.
- UCLA ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten, among all 18 teams, in 3-point shooting percentage (37.6%).
- The Bruins have not shot 37.0% or better since the 2020-21 season (UCLA shot 37.2 percent from three that year).
- The Bruins are currently shooting 75.4 percent at the free throw stripe, ranking No. 8 in the Big Ten.
- The school single-season record for best free throw percentage is 75.6 percent, back in the 1978-79 season.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON UCLA
- UCLA has gone 5-0 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field this season. The Bruins’ season-high 62.7 shooting percentage in a win at home against Presbyterian was the program’s best single-game mark since Dec. 10, 2016 (UCLA shot 62.7% in an 102-84 win at home against Michigan, shooting 39-for-58 overall).
- Senior guard Donovan Dent has averaged 6.6 assists per game in 20 contests this season. Since assists were routinely recorded at UCLA, starting in 1973-74, only three student-athletes have logged at least 7.0 assists per game in one season (Pooh Richardson, twice, as well as Lonzo Ball in 2016-17 and Larry Drew II in 2012-13).
- The Bruins’ 15-man roster this season includes eight student-athletes who are from the Southern California region. All 15 student-athletes are from the United States. Looking at the eight local players, five are from Los Angeles County and three are from Riverside County (Donovan Dent, Eric Freeny and Anthony Peoples Jr. all went to Corona Centennial HS).
- Through 21 games, the Bruins have logged an assist-turnover ratio of 1.58-to-1 (ranks No. 33, nationally). Last season, UCLA’s assist-turnover ratio (1.55-to-1) ranked No. 20 in the nation and was second in the Big Ten. The Bruins concluded the 2024-25 season with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.55, but posted a ratio of 1.81 in their final 15 games.
No. 39 UCLA’s KenPom notable numbers:
(out of 365 teams)
Tempo – No. 310 (Offense No. 213 / Defense No. 357)
Offensive Efficiency – No. 49
- UCLA holds an effective field goal percentage of 54.1 percent on the year (No. 69). The Bruins are shooting 37.6 percent from three (No. 27) and 52.8 percent on 2s (No. 136). They’re scoring a majority of points on 2s, accounting for 50.0% of their total point distribution (No. 125).
- UCLA does a good job at limiting turnovers with a 14.6% rate (No. 42).
- The team assists on 56.9% of their made shots (No. 79).
- They aren’t a high volume three-point shooting team, with just a 34.8% attempt rate (No. 278)
Defensive Efficiency – No. 44
- Opponents hold a 48.7 percent effective field goal percentage against UCLA (No. 78). Teams are shooting 29.6 percent from three (No. 16) and 52.2 percent on 2s (No. 203).
- Teams are getting a high number of offensive rebounds against UCLA at 32.5% (No. 258).
- The Bruins force turnovers at a 19.5% rate (No. 56).
- Teams are able to assist at a high rate against UCLA at a 58.4% clip (No. 313).
OG’s Pick
Overall: 14-5
Indiana played some of its best basketball against Purdue earlier in the week and got their first Quad 1 win in the process. They have a chance to repeat that with the first of a two-game trip out to California with an away matchup with the Bruins.
UCLA certainly has some talent and size that can give Indiana problems, along with its ability to limit production from beyond the arc. I see this as a very close game, but IU still doesn’t have a win in a tougher road environment against a good team.
Until I’m proven wrong, I’m giving the edge to the opponent.
PICK: UCLA 73 – Indiana 67
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