Utah @ UCLA preview

Utah at UCLA

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) UCLA 81, Utah 92

Coach Mick Cronin’s first UCLA team appears to be gelling at an opportune time, winning three of its last four games to climb in the Pac-12 standings. The Bruins will try to continue that surge Sunday afternoon when they host Utah.

UCLA’s most-recent win was its most impressive of the season, building a 39-27 halftime lead at home and never trailing thereafter in beating No. 21 Colorado 72-68 on Thursday night. Junior guard Chris Smith scored a career-high 30 points as the Bruins finished 25-of-29 at the free-throw line and outrebounded what was the conference’s top team on the glass by a 39-29 margin. “Tonight was definitely a confidence-booster,” Smith told reporters after hitting 8-of-16 from the field and 13-of-15 free throws. “It shows us and everyone else that we can hang with some of the best. We got a really big win.” Across town Thursday, things played out just the opposite for Utah as it squandered a nine-point lead with 12:34 remaining at USC and wound up falling 56-52 to remain winless in conference road games.

TIME: 3 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT UTAH (12-8, 3-5 Pac-12): The Runnin’ Utes shot 32.7 percent from the field Thursday, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range, in matching their season-low point total. Forward Timmy Allen, Utah’s leading scorer at 18.7 points per game, scored 13 to lead four Utes in double figures at USC, but he hit only 5-of-20 shots to mark his sixth straight game with 18 or fewer points. Freshman point guard Rylan Jones (11.1 points, team-best 4.8 assists) and backcourt mate Both Gach (10.6 points) are also averaging double figures for Utah, which ranks among the Pac-12’s bottom four in scoring (66.6), field-goal percentage (40.4) and 3-point accuracy (30.1) in conference play.

ABOUT UCLA (11-10, 4-4): Smith (13.0) is only player averaging double digits scoring for the Bruins, who rank 11th in the Pac-12 with their season average of 69.6 points per outing. Smith, though, has turned things up during the conference slate, averaging 16.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists while teammates Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jalen Hill are averaging 10.1 and 9.3 points, respectively, in Pac-12 play. UCLA’s strengths have been on the glass - outrebounding 19 of its 21 opponents and owning a Pac-12-best plus-7.0 rebound margin - and on defense where the Bruins are 11-0 when limiting the opposition to 73 points or fewer this season.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Utah is on a series-high three-game win streak versus UCLA after sweeping both games last season, winning 93-92 at Pauley Pavilion and 92-81 in Salt Lake City.

2. The Utes opened the season with a 79-74 win at Nevada, but have dropped all five of their true road games since - losing by an average of 20 points per contest.

3. Hill (7.0) and Smith (5.4) are the leading rebounders for the Bruins, who entered Saturday ranked 21st nationally in rebound margin and 29th with 12.71 offensive rebounds per game.

PREDICTION: UCLA 72, Utah 70