Stanford @ UCLA preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 16, 2019 ) UCLA 80, Stanford 104

Two teams last seen limping toward the end of the regular season aim for a fresh start Wednesday when No. 10 seed Stanford faces seventh-seeded UCLA in a first-round matchup at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas. Stanford dropped four of its last five games while UCLA secured its worst regular-season finish since 2015-16 with back-to-back road losses.

The teams split the season series with UCLA opening Pac-12 play with a 92-70 victory in Los Angeles before Stanford answered with a 104-80 win at Maples Pavilion on Feb. 16. UCLA sophomore point guard Jaylen Hands, a second-team All-Pac-12 selection, averaged 22 points and five assists while shooting 56 percent from the field in both meetings against the Cardinal. Hands averages 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists for the Bruins, who went 9-9 after interim coach Murry Bartow took over for Steve Alford. UCLA leads the league in scoring at 78.4 points per game and figures to push the tempo against a struggling Stanford offense led by sophomore guard KZ Okpala, who was named to the Pac-12 first team after averaging 17.1 points and 5.8 rebounds.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT STANFORD (15-15): One bright spot over the past few weeks has been the development of senior center Josh Sharma, who had 11 points and 13 boards in last Thursday’s 64-59 loss to California and averaged 11.2 points and 8.2 boards in conference play. Freshman point guard Bryce Wills started the last two games in place of sophomore Daejon Davis, who is fourth in the league in assists (4.6 per game) but is listed as day-to-day with a foot injury. Stanford scored 62 points or fewer in four of its last five games and clearly missed Davis, who has averaged 17.5 points and 7.5 assists in four career games against UCLA.

ABOUT UCLA (16-15): Sophomore guard Kris Wilkes, who joined Hands on the All-Pac-12 second team, led the Bruins in scoring with 17.3 points per game and needs just 12 more points to become the 57th player in school history to score at least 1,000 points. Freshman center Moses Brown, averaging 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and two blocks, sat out last Saturday’s 92-81 loss to Utah due to disciplinary reasons but is expected to start Wednesday. Freshman guard David Singleton has seen a bump in playing time in place of junior Prince Ali, who is out for the tournament with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

TIP-INS

1. The winner advances to face second-seeded Arizona State in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

2. UCLA owns a 145-95 lead in the all-time series – including a 3-1 edge in the conference tournament.

3. Stanford forward Oscar da Silva is averaging 10.9 points and 6.4 rebounds over the last 11 games.

PREDICTION: UCLA 74, Stanford 67