UCLA vs. Prairie View A&M - Game Preview

By Bruin Basketball Report

UCLA opens the 2008-09 season on Wednesday night against the Prairie View A&M (PVAM) Panthers in a first round game of the 2K Sports Classic: Coaches Against Cancer.

The winner of this game faces the winner of Weber State/Miami Ohio in a second round match-up on Thursday night. The winner of the second round contest advances to Madison Square Garden for a chance to play for the championship. Teams in other parts of the tournament bracket include Michigan, Southern Illinois, and Duke. See complete tournament bracket: HERE

PVAM, located near Houston Texas, plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The team finished the conference in 8th place last season finishing a disappointing 6-12 in conference action and 8-22 overall.

This is also the Panther's first game of the regular season. The Panthers have never faced the Bruins in basketball.

PVAM averaged 65.9 points while allowing 76.2 points to opponents last season. Not a threat from outside, the Panthers shots just 30.9% from beyond the three-point arc.

The Panthers lost their top two scorers to graduation over the summer but they return three starters from last year's squad.

Senior guard Derek Johnson (6'1, 190) is the leader on the squad. He was the team's third leading scorer, averaging 11.0 points and led the team in assists with 3.8.

Forward Dorian McDaniel (6'6, 210, Jr) averaged 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds.

Seven-footer Blake Thompson (7'0, 240, Sr) takes up vertical space but does not contribute much more than that, finishing last season with just 5.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.3 minutes of action per game.

The Panthers will likely give the Bruins as much trouble as their two prior NAIA exhibition opponents, Cal Baptist and Biola, were able to muster.

This game will only be as challenging and close as UCLA allows it. It all depends on how much effort and intensity the Bruin players come out with to start the game.

Junior forward Nikola Dragovic was back at practice with the team this week. He posted bail after being arrested for misdemeanor battery against his ex-girl friend. UCLA Coach Ben Howland said at his weekly pressor that the situation with Dragovic would be handled internally. Its unknown at this time whether Dragovic will play against PVAM on Wednesday night.

Game Information
UCLA vs. Prairie View A&M
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 12
Time: 7:05 PM
Place: Pauley Pavilion
TV: ESPN-U
Radio: AM 1150

Comments

[BruinFan]

yawn

play the Freshmen please....
Aboya can sit and Keefe needs to be a stud this year....

Brewskis to all my Bruin Fans

[Karl Dorrell]

Panthers by -26.

[Smilin]

As a Bruin fan going back to Lew Alcindor's first varsity game, growing up in St. Louis, CBH's team will be what gets me through a LONG winter of 08/09(Rams and Blues?!)

Cannot WAIT for some early season drama between the Bruins and Blue Devils at MSG! (My kids and I went to the CBE Classic in KC and watched last year's team beat Michigan State.)

Go BOBO, JK and Drew! Get that front line lots of early minutes!

[Leroy]

Biggest concern is that we have NO injuries in this game! Go Bruins!

[DW]

See y'all at the game! What amazing dunk will JH throw down tonight?!!

[CrouchingBruin]

If, by some extremely turn of misfortune, we happen to lose tonight's game, will we still play a second round game against the loser of Miami Ohio/Weber State, or is that it?

[JW]

HOw come when UNC and Duke and teams like that, play nobody schools like we are playing tonight, they always win by scores of 121-37 and such, but we only take them by 30 points? I really want to see at least a 50 point blow out tonight or else I will be dissapointed!

[BruinFan]

JW, as much as I love my Bruins, this years squad is not capable of blowing teams out by 50...
-I keep it real....

What's gr8 about this year's team is the following:

Right now, we are maybe a Sweet 16 team. Over the coming months, Coach BH will put his magic touch on the team, allowing the Freshmen more minutes, as they become more productive. We may make it to the Final Four because of this. (just opened a fortune cookie and this is what it said)

GO BRUINS!! DUNK ALL OVER THESE GUYS!!

P.S. Bobo, please rotate on "D"

[jojoenglish]

[Deleted]

Please don't post entire articles. Post link to article instead.

[josie]

play aboya. hopefully he can learn in the "preseason" how to step on the court and NOT commit a foul. we need him this year and he cant be in foul trouble after the first 5 minutes like last year.

i'm hoping drew gordon gets more PT. he's our next defensive stopper!!

re: JW
respect, my friend. no one wants to be a ***hole and run up the score. plus, absolutely nothing comes out of a win by 80+ points. howland runs different matchups (i.e., all freshmen in the first game) to try and make a useless situation useful.

re: CrouchingBruin
hypothetically speaking, if (and its a big damn if) we lose tonight we will play on thursday at 430pm in pauley. i'm hoping for a duke-ucla match up in MSG.

re: Leroy
x2 man. i think my heart stopped last game when shipp was on the ground.

[BHT]

I am coming into Westwood tonight from quite a long way away for my first season having UCLA basketball season tickets. I have not been to very many UCLA basketball games. I will be arriving in town a few hours before the game. Does anyone have any recommendations where to grab a bite and throw down a couple brews before the game? Any advice would be appreciated.

[josie]

brew co is my favorite. behind ahhs on glendon/kinross.

i'd grab a bite at ackerman union. gotta throw it back to my college days whenever i go back.. panda express or rubios!

[jojoenglish]

[Deleted]

Please don't post entire articles. Post link to article instead.

[Bruin Basketball Report]

Yes, there is a consolation game on Thursday for Wednesday's losers.

- BBR

[gtd]

thanks BBR and everyone for the updates on tonight's game. i can't wait! it's going to be an exciting season.

go bruins!

[Brew In]

Hey jojoenglish, good contributions. Are you the BBR assistant now? Just curious...

[BruinFan]

I'll be at Acapulco @ 5:30pm for brewskis/dinner...ask the bartender for BruinFan

[Tracy]

YO YO YO!!! THE STAND Westwood is cool as well. It's at 1116 Westwood (at Kinross). Excellent Draft Beer (Honey Blonde Ale), yummy hotdogs, burgers, fries. Plus i heard that they will be showing the game too on their flat screen TVs.

[Michael]

Haha! Ok, Tracy since you sound enthusiastic enough. Meet you up at The Stand. Beer, hot dogs and fries - u got it!

[michael]

I'm a UCLA fan all the way back to Sidney Wicks & Curtis Rowe. 1971-72

But my son is playing for PVAMU a freshmen point guard. So for the first time in 37 years I'll be routing against my Bruins. But I don't think I'll have to worry bout a loss either way. 97 - 72
Go PRAIRIE VIEW let's do this. :-)

[Michael]

For all you Bruin fans without ESPNU (and I'm sure that is the majority of you ;)), go to justin.tv/thecards for live streaming of the game. It is a direct stream from ESPNU. GO BRUINS!!!!!

[I_am_Bruin]

Shipp is looking good!

This is the first time I have seen him since March, and I literally did not recognize him at the beginning of the game.

[jojoenglish]

Hey Brew In, Thank you for your compliment. I have been trying my best to share as much as I read to every Bruin fans.