Bruins Prepare For Much Tougher Matchup on Friday Night

The No. 22 UCLA Bruins will travel to a neutral site on Friday night to battle a much tougher team than their season opening opponent.

Nov 4, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Kobe Johnson (0) drives the baseline past Rider Broncs forward Ife West-Ingram (7) during the first half at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The No. 22 UCLA Bruins (1-0) will seek a second-straight win to begin the 2024-'25 campaign as they travel to a neutral site in Nevada to battle the New Mexico Lobos (1-0), a team that is much more talented than the one they started the year against.

The Bruins are coming off an 85-50 win over Rider University on home court in their season opener earlier this week. They will face a Lobos team that recently won the Mountain West conference tournament and earned a national tournament berth last season.

Lobos head coach Richard Pitino spoke to the media earlier this week and gave his thoughts on the upcoming game. He admitted that he has not done a ton of research on the Bruins so far but should have his guys ready to go on Friday night.

"My hope is that we win," Pitino said. "I know it's going to be very challenging, I haven't watched them. Mick's [HC Mick Cronin] a friend of mine, a lot of respect for obviously UCLA, one of the top brands in all of college basketball. Mick is a phenomenal coach and they got some talented players, so I haven't watched much of them. The expectations will be to come back tomorrow and humbly walk into this facility and learn from the film and get back to work."

There are several highly-skilled players on this Lobos team that can create issues for the Bruins. Senior center Nelly Junior Jones finished the season opener against Nicholls with 28 points, 16 rebounds, and three blocks. He was fouled several times, going 10-12 from the charity stripe.

Junior guard Donovan Dent poured in 15 points in the win and will be the leader of the offense at the top of the key. His ability to penetrate defenders and finish around the cup while dishing it off to bigs such as Jones was the bread and butter for this team earlier this week.

One of the few early struggles for the Lobos was their three point shooting. They made just seven of 36 three point shots in their first game of the season. That number should rise as the season progresses but a point of emphasis if the Bruins decide to allow them shoot it from deep.

It will be an ideal test early in the season to see where this Bruins team stacks up against a common opponent. Big Ten play is still a month away but being able to compete and prepare against high-powered non conference opponents will pay dividends when they get to early December.

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