Washington St. @ UCLA preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 4, 2020 ) UCLA 71, Washington St. 79

It's been a roller-coaster start to the Mick Cronin era at UCLA where the Bruins still remain in title contention in a loaded Pac-12 race despite compiling an overall record of just 13-11. The Bruins, who at 6-5 begin the week two games behind first-place Colorado, play four of their next six games at Pauley Pavilion, starting with Thursday night's contest against Washington State.

Last week's split on the road against the Arizona schools showed just how Jekyll and Hyde the Bruins can be this season. UCLA was thumped by hot-shooting Arizona State, 84-66, but then rebounded two nights later to shock 23rd-ranked Arizona, 65-52, holding the Wildcats to 25.4 percent shooting from the field, the lowest such percentage by Arizona in the history of the McKale Center which opened in February of 1973. "You can't play much better than that," Cronin told reporters afterward. "You're going to write that we should win the rest of them. (That) we figured it out, I finally did a good job coaching and been waiting all year for me to do a better job and we've got to win every game. It's okay. That's the way it goes." Next up for the Bruins is a Washington State team that handed them a 79-71 overtime loss in their first meeting on Jan. 4 in Pullman.

TIME: 11 p.m. ET. TV: Pac-12 Network

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE (14-10, 5-6 Pac-12): The Cougars play five of their final seven games on the road where they are just 1-5 this season, and come in off a 79-67 win over Apple Cup rival Washington on Sunday. Sophomore forward CJ Elleby, who hit a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation and then scored eight points in overtime in the first meeting with UCLA, was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second time this season after scoring a career-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds in the win over the Huskies, and is just 74 points shy of scoring 1,000 points in his career. Elleby leads the team and ranks third in the Pac-12 in scoring (19.0 per game) while also grabbing a team-best 7.3 rebounds per game while junior point guard Isaac Bonton (14.4 points) also is averaging in double figures while dishing off 4.0 assists per game.

ABOUT UCLA (13-11, 6-5): After Arizona State sank 14-of-24 3-pointers in its win on Thursday night, the Bruins' defense clamped down to hold Arizona to 6-of-23 shooting beyond the arc, including 0-for-12 in the second half when they outscored the Wildcats 36-24. Junior guard Chris Smith, the only UCLA player averaging in double figures (12.7 points), had a game-high 15 points Saturday to go with five rebounds Saturday while 6-10 forward Jalen Hill, who sat out the Arizona State loss with a sore knee, added nine points and nine rebounds off the bench. UCLA finished with a 35-30 rebounding edge in the upset of the Wildcats and leads the Pac-12 with a plus-6.38 rebounding margin.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. UCLA leads the series with Washington State, 108-18, and is a remarkable 58-3 against the Cougars in games played in Los Angeles.

2. Elleby is averaging 21.2 points on 44.4 percent shooting at home compared to 12.5 points on 34.2-percent shooting on the road.

3. Bruins freshman PG Tyger Campbell's 2.5 assist-turnover ratio leads the Pac-12 and ranks 27th nationally.

PREDICTION: UCLA 67, Washington State 58