LOS ANGELES — The UCLA men’s basketball team will look to extend its five-game winning streak against Colorado in a nationally televised Pac-12 game on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Bruins coach Mick Cronin has been impressed by his team’s attention to detail over the past month, in particular on defense, which has anchored UCLA on its current winning streak.
“We had some great defensive rotations from Sebastian Mack behind our pick-and-roll coverage (against Cal),” Cronin said. “He did some great off-the-ball defensive things in the first half with his hands, the second half with his defensive rotations, a couple of them behind our pick-and-roll. Him and Dylan (Andrews) are getting better at that.”
UCLA is 8-2 against Colorado in their past 10 meetings, including an 80-69 victory over the Buffaloes in the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. Thursday’s game is their only matchup during the regular season.
The surging Bruins are 13-11 overall and 8-5 in Pac-12 play and have moved into a tie with Oregon for third place in the conference. UCLA has won seven of eight games dating to Jan. 14 and is getting hot leading into March.
However, UCLA coach Mick Cronin said the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 19, is the last thing on his mind.
“I’ll be proud of our guys if we can get to the point where that’s a real conversation,” Cronin said. “That’s not a real conversation right now. Right now, we need to get better.”
“Anything we accomplish is going to be a dream come true,” UCLA freshman forward Brandon Williams said.
The 6-foot-7 freshman guard/forward from Queens, New York, said he wants the Bruins to continue playing with the physicality necessary to extend their winning streak.
“Playing harder than the other teams, being dogs,” Williams continued. “Not just one person, our whole team, anybody, whatever rotation it is getting in the game.”
