The UCLA Bruins look for their fourth straight victory today in an early tipoff at Pauley Pavilion against the Stanford Cardinal in a nationally televised game on CBS. UCLA has won three straight games in Pac-10 play, including an 86-84 win on Thursday night against Cal. The Bruins held a 14-point lead at one point in that game, but the Bears came back to tie with 10 seconds left. Reeves Nelson tipped in a miss with 2.3 seconds remaining to give the Bruins the win.
Stanford, who shot 22.2% in a 65-42 loss Thursday night at USC (and they were down 56-28 at one point), hasn't won a game in Los Angeles since 2005. The Bruins have won five straight games at home, and is 35-10 against the Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion. Guard Jeremy Green leads Stanford in scoring, averaging 14.9 points per game, but was held to five points in Thursday's loss.
UCLA has won eight of their last 10 games overall. Bruins' center Joshua Smith hit his head on the floor Thursday night against Cal, and missed the entire second half. He will be a game-time decision today. Whether Smith plays or not, he will not start, thanks to constant foul trouble this season, per Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times:
[Coah Ben] Howland said Smith would come off the bench for the rest of the season regardless of whether he was cleared to play against Stanford.
"I don't want Josh getting a foul in the first three minutes of the game," Howland said. "It's not good for him psychologically and it's not good for us."
Here are today's probable starting lineups:
Stanford (10-7, 3-3)
- Guard: Gabriel Harris
- Guard: Jarrett Mann
- Guard: Jeremy Green
- Forward: Josh Owens
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Forward: Jack Trotter
UCLA (12-6, 4-2)
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Guard: Lazeric Jones
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Guard: Malcolm Lee
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Forward: Tyler Honeycutt
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Forward: Reeves Nelson
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Center: Anthony Stover
Today's 11 a.m. PST game will be nationally televised on CBS. Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner will be on the call.
For more information on today's game, be sure to read Bruins Nation.