Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned with VAVEL USA for live coverage of all of today's games. I am Matthew Evans, have a great day!
The VAVEL USA Player of the Game is Tony Parker, he finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Amazing numbers from UCLA who saw all five starters finish in double-figures. 88 combined points from the starting five.
Final Score: UCLA 92, UAB 75
2nd (0:00): And that will do it. UCLA has advanced to the Sweet 16
2nd (0:47): Both teams are emptying their benches. Alford at the line, he misses the first. The second shot is good. 92-75 UCLA
2nd (1:11): Alford to the line. His first shot is good. The second shot is good. 91-75 UCLA
2nd (1:24): Both schools exchange buckets as we inch closer to the finish. 89-75 UCLA
2nd (2:00): Powell goes to the line. He makes the first. The second is missed. 87-73 UCLA
2nd (2:17): Parker cleans up the glass and finishes. UAB responds with a quick bucket. 86-73 UCLA
2nd (2:56): Watts goes to the line where he misses the first. good. 84-71 UCLA
2nd (3:07): Norman Powell makes the first free throw. The second free throw is good. 84-70 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 82, UAB 70
2nd (3:20): Alford for three! 82-70 UCLA
2nd (3:42): Brown goes coast-to-coast with the steal and the layup. 79-70 UCLA
2nd (4:18): Brown goes to the line and misses his first. The second is good. 79-68 UCLA
2nd (4:18): Alford with the layup on the drive. 79-67 UCLA
2nd (4:40): Lee gets down into the post and finishes. 77-67 UCLA
2nd (5:04): Brown is called for a foul after a bump on Hamilton. His first shot is good. The second shot is no good. 77-65 UCLA
2nd (5:34): Looney is the beneficiary of the motion offense now as he makes the easy bucket. 76-65 UCLA
2nd (6:21): Tony Parker makes the easy bucket down low. 74-65 UCLA
2nd (6:42): Tony Parker is called for a foul on a rebound attempt. Cokley goes to the line. His first shot is good. His second shot is good. 72-65 UCLA
2nd (7:04): Brown pushes to the basket and finishes. 72-63 UCLA
2nd (7:17): Alford to the line when he hits the first. The second is good. 72-61 UCLA
2nd (7:17): Timeout UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 70, UAB 61
2nd (7:40): Norton steps back and hits the three. 70-61 UCLA
2nd (8:21): Hamilton with the layup, the steal and another layup. 70-58 UCLA
2nd (8:41): Looney and Parker each miss from in close!
2nd (9:19): UAB is really crashing the boards now. They are sending at least three to every offensive miss.
2nd (9:58): Powell with the bucket off the glass, high off the glass. 66-58 UCLA
2nd (10:27): Tyler Madison with the three off the screen! Timeout UCLA. 64-58 UCLA
2nd (10:53): Welsh cannot connect with his shot from down low.
2nd (11:13): Watts steps into the three! 64-55 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 64, UAB 52
2nd (12:16): C.J. Washington gets open at the top of the key and sinks the shot. UCLA answers on the other end. 64-52 UCLA
2nd (12:49): Alford gets himself open and nails another three. 62-50 UCLA
2nd (13:14): The first shot is no good. The second shot is missed as well!
2nd (13:31): UCLA responds with a bucket to beat the zone. Mehinti is fouled on the putback for UAB. 59-50 UCLA
2nd (14:00): Watts with the long three pointer and the momentum is starting to tilt. 57-50 UCLA
2nd (14:18): Tony Parker to the line. His first is good. His second is no good. 57-47 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 56, UAB 47
2nd (15:00): Tyler Madison with the putback! 56-47 UCLA
2nd (15:44): Robert Brown uses a screen to free himself and nail a triple. Powell with the beautiful move under the basket to score. 56-45 UCLA
2nd (16:01): Looney goes to the line. His first shot is no good. His second shot is no good.
2nd (16:24): Brown finds his way in the post to score the putback. 54-42 UCLA
2nd (17:03): Alford once again drives and dishes to Looney for the layup. Timeout UAB. 54-40 UCLA
2nd (18:06): Alford drives to the bucket, he misses the shot but Looney is there to finish. 52-40 UCLA
2nd (18:55): Baxter spots up from the corner and sinks the three. UCLA answers with a basket on the other end. 50-40 UCLA
2nd (19:14): Parker is fouled on a hook shot. His first free throw is good. The second is good. 48-37 UCLA
2nd (20:00): UAB brings the ball back in to start the second half
Halftime: UCLA 46, UAB 37
1st (0:13): Alford finds space and hits a three! 46-37 UCLA
1st (0:38): Cokley challenges Parker down in the post. Parker wins Round 1, Cokley wins Round 2 and get the bucket. 43-37 UCLA
1st (0:58): A great block from Lee is called a goaltend. No controversy about that call at all. 43-35 UCLA
1st (1:31): Nothing doing for UAB as they are called for a travel.
1st (1:42): Looney is called for a poor foul as the shot clock was expiring for UAB.
1st (2:15): Alford goes to the line after a bump. He makes both shots. 41-35 UCLA
1st (2:23): A nice drive to the bucket by Lee with the finish. 39-35 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 39, UAB 33
1st (3:00): Tony Parker with the finish after the offensive rebound. 39-33 UCLA
1st (3:37): William Lee with the steal and the jam. 37-33 UCLA
1st (4:41): William Lee with the straightaway three! Parker with the finish in the low post. 37-31 UCLA
1st (5:10): Tony Parker with the jam! He has 15 points! 35-28 UCLA
1st (5:40): Parker takes the dish from Alford and finishes. 33-28 UCLA
1st (6:20): Powell spots up in the corner and sinks the triple. Brown comes back and answers on the other end. 31-28 UCLA
1st (6:45): Brown with a nice touch on the jumper. 28-25 UCLA
1st (7:01): The free throw from Parker is good. 28-23 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 27, UAB 23
1st (7:01): Parker takes the pass in the post and finishes off the glass. He is fouled on the play and will take free throws after the media timeout. 27-23 UCLA
1st (7:29):Alford with the floater off the glass. 25-23 UCLA
1st (8:11): Cokley makes the putback and the missed three point attempt. 23-21 UAB
1st (8:43): Parker gets inside position and is fouled as he makes the putback. The free throw is good. 21-21
1st (9:02): Norman Powell for three from the corner. Good offense from UCLA there. 21-18 UAB
1st (9:22): William Lee for three! 21-15 UAB
1st (9:43): Alford gets himself on the board. 18-15 UAB
1st (9:57): A reach-in foul on UAB.
1st (10:27): Hakeem Baxter spots up and nails a three. 18-13 UAB
Media Timeout: UAB 15, UCLA 13
1st (12:21): Turnovers on both sides of the ball. Kevon Looney is called for a blocking foul to send Tyler Madison to the line. His first shot is no good. The second is good. 15-13 UAB
1st (13:15): Robert Brown again! He has 10 points already. Welsh answers on the other end. 14-13 UAB
1st (13:40): Powell with the drive to the bucket. 12-11 UAB
1st (14:17): Thomas Welsh takes the ball in the post, he cannot hit the shot but gets his own offensive reboud. He is fouled. Brown with the steal and the layup on the other end. 12-9 UAB
1st (14:43): Robert Brown steps into a long three. 10-9 UAB
1st (15:28): Isaac Hamilton with the hoop while being fouled. His free throw is no good. 9-7 UCLA
Media Timeout: UCLA 7, UAB 7
1st (15:56): An illegal screen on UCLA will take us to the first media timeout
1st (16:30): Parker takes Mehinti to the hole and gets the layup. 7-7
1st (16:52): Mehinti takes the pass in the post but is called for traveling as he shuffled his feet.
1st (18:03): Robert Brown with the three from the elbow. Parker makes the strong move to the basket and finishes. Mehinti responds on the other end. 7-5 UAB
1st (18:38): Hakeem Baxter will the jumper off the screen. 3-2 UCLA
1st (19:05): Alford misses the floater but Looney is there for the putback. 3-0 UCLA
1st (19:35): Tony Parker draws a foul on the move to the basket, his first free throw is good. The second is missed. 1-0 UCLA
1st (20:00): UCLA wins the tip and we are underway. They look for an early alley-oop but it is denied.
We welcome you in for our live coverage of today's game. We are just under ten minutes to tip off.
Another stat to keep in mind during today’s game. UCLA has not won consecutive games away from Pauley Pavilion this season. In fact, the last time they did was during the first weekend of last season’s NCAA Tournament when they beat Tulsa in the Round of 64 and Stephen F. Austin in the Round of 32.
From the ESPN Stats & Info Department: Bryce Alford’s nine three-point performance made him the 10th player who made at least nine triples in a game during the NCAA Tournament. The last player to do so was Brady Heslip from Baylor in 2012.
The Bruins are looking for their second consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16. It is hard to believe that this is the same school who made three consecutive Final Four appearances just in the last decade under Ben Howland.
An interesting thing to note: UCLA shot 50.0% from behind the arc on Thursday making 10-of-20 shots. From inside the arc? They shot 37.0% making 10-of-27 shots.
UCLA has some big trouble containing the big men of SMU especially Markus Kennedy off the bench. Kennedy finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes of work.
Alford hit nine three-pointers en route to a game-high 27 points to lead the Bruins to the slim 60-59 win over SMU.
Norman Powell did his thing with 19 points but the story of the game was sophomore guard Bryce Alford.
That mark is led by Norman Powell who has 16.5 points per game all the way down to Isaac Hamilton with 10.5 per game.
One of the things that has been symbolic of UCLA Basketball during the 2014-2015 season to this point has been balance. They run a rotation of eight players but all five started average above ten points per game.
Defensively, UAB did a great job to deny Iowa State’s best player Georges Niang good looks at the basket. He finished with just 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting on the afternoon.
It would be William Lee who hit the winning shot with 26 seconds left before a pair of free throws sealed the result for UAB. Lee finished with a double-double scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
The team’s leading scorer on the season Robert Brown accomplished his task of leading the team with 21 points. Three of those came on a big three-pointer with 52 seconds left to put UAB up 56-55.
It was a good area for the Blazers to excel in considering they only shot 34.8% from the floor (24-of-69) and only make 3-of-18 three-point shots.
For UAB in that game on Thursday, they really dominated on the glass, especially the offensive glass. The Blazers outrebounded Iowa State 52-37 and by a margin of 19-9 on the offensive side of the ball. Reserve guard Tyler Madison was a beast in his 14 minutes of action grabbing 11 rebounds, nine of those came on the offensive glass.
The win for UAB over Iowa State on Thursday came as a very big shock to many. Especially considering that Iowa State was a very trendy Final Four pick for many people. It was hard to argue that pick considering how well the Cyclones played during the Big 12 season and their performance in the Championship Game of the Conference Tournament.
The UAB Blazers are not looking to have their Cinderella clock strike midnight just yet especially to a team that many think should not have been in. Furthermore, a team that should not have advanced past the Round of 64 but we are not here to talk about the controversial goaltending call which benefited the Bruins in the first round.
In fact, the #11 seed has never lost to the #14 seed in the previous four meetings. They have won and won big with an average margin of victory of 16 points. Good news for UCLA fans who believe historical numbers.
This will be the fifth time since 1985 that we have a 14 - 11 matchup in the Round of 32. The last time this occurred was last year when #11 Tennessee beat #14 Mercer 83-63.
The winner of our game will advance into the Sweet 16 next weekend. They will play in Houston, Texas at the NRG Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Houston Texans. Our winner today will face off with the winner of the Gonzaga and Iowa game on Sunday from Seattle, Washington. You can join me for live coverage of that game as well.
Good morning and welcome to VAVEL USA’s live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Our game today comes to you from Louisville, Kentucky as part of the South Region. It will feature the 14th seeded UAB Blazers (20-15) of Conference USA taking on the 11th seeded UCLA Bruins (21-3) of the Pac-12 Conference. My name is Matthew Evans and I will be your host today.