UCLA @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 26, 2019 ) Arizona 69, UCLA 90

Arizona moved to within a half-game of first place in the Pac-12 Conference with Thursday night's 85-80 victory over visiting USC. The 23rd-ranked Wildcats, who have won five of six since a 1-2 start to league play, will try for their fourth consecutive win Saturday night when they host UCLA.

The victory over the Trojans was the 400th career win as a head coach for Arizona's Sean Miller who wasn't in a celebratory mood afterward even though his team led by as many as 20 points midway through the second half. "We didn't play well, and we didn't play smart," said Miller, upset that the lead was trimmed to three points with five seconds left before Nico Mannion sealed the victory with a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds to go. "I really felt like we struggled throughout the game." The Wildcats hit just 5-of-22 3-pointers and allowed the Trojans to shot 50 percent for the game but outscored USC 28-18 at the free-throw line to overcome 1-for-9 shooting down the stretch. UCLA, which is two games behind conference co-leaders Colorado and Oregon, will try and bounce back from a 84-66 loss at Arizona State on Thursday.

TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2.

ABOUT UCLA (12-11, 5-5 Pac-12): The Bruins had their two-game winning streak snapped by the Sun Devils who entered the contest shooting a Pac-12 worst 30 percent from 3-point range but sank 14-of-24 beyond the arc (58.3 percent) while shooting 50 percent from the field for the game. "A team shoots the ball like that, the only way we would've had a chance is to shoot it right back at them," Bruins coach Mick Cronin said. "We're seven for 25 (from 3-point range). We had a lot of good looks from three and that was the only way we were going to be able to keep pace with them tonight." Junior guard Chris Smith is the only player averaging in double figures (12.6 points per game) for the Bruins and finished with nine points on 2-of-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds in the loss at ASU.

ABOUT ARIZONA (16-6, 6-3): The Wildcats count on three true freshmen -- Mannion, 6-11 forward Zeke Nnaji and shooting guard Josh Green -- to carry the load offensively which may explain why the team is inconsistent at times. "It's kind of like that jockey coming down the stretch," Miller said. You've got to pick and choose, but you can only hit it so hard. ... We have a very young group. We have a group that has a lot to learn." Nnaji leads the Wildcats in both scoring (16.3) and rebounding (8.9) followed by Mannion, who is averaging 14.5 points and a team-best 5.7 assists and Green, who is averaging 12.0 points and a team-leading 1.6 steals per game.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Nnaji had 18 points and 11 rebounds against USC for his Pac-12 leading 10th double-double

2. F Jalen Hill, who is second in scoring (9.9) and also leads UCLA in rebounding (7.1), sat out the loss to the Sun Devils and is listed as day to day by Cronin after spraining his right knee in practice this week.

3. UCLA is 12-0 this season when limiting opponents to 73 points or fewer.

PREDICTION: Arizona 79, UCLA 65