Twelve national championship banners and 26 consensus first-team All-Americans later, UCLA and Arizona are still the flagship programs for Pac-12 men’s basketball.
But even with 95 meetings between them, only one matters to both teams right now – Saturday night’s game.
The No. 3 Bruins (19-1, 6-1 Pac-12) will host the No. 14 Wildcats (17-2, 6-0 Pac-12) in a bid to extend their home win streak to 20 games.
“They’ve done a lot of good things away from home,” said coach Steve Alford. “But you’ve got 6-0 in the league versus 6-1. You’ve got the No. 1 offense versus the No. 1 defense, so something’s gotta give. For us, it’s about taking care of home.”
A win will vault UCLA past Arizona into second place in the conference standings behind Oregon and hand Arizona its first loss in Pac-12 play.
The Bruins’ freshmen – center Ike Anigbogu, point guard Lonzo Ball and forward T.J. Leaf – have quickly adjusted on offense and defense in front of a big crowd after dropping a close game in a hostile environment to the Ducks late in December.
“A lot of times (basketball) can be easy for us because we do have so many good shooters and players,” Leaf said. “But we have room to grow still, like on Saturday. It will be two big-time teams facing off in a big-time environment.”
[Related: Thomas Welsh’s mid-range mastery key in UCLA’s offensive success]
But Leaf could have been on the other side of Saturday’s rivalry game.
The former five-star recruit had committed to Arizona and coach Sean Miller in fall of 2014, before decommitting and opting to play for coach Steve Alford in Westwood.
Now, Leaf, who joined forces with Ball and Anigbogu, is a big factor of the Bruins’ resurgence from their 15-17 showing last season.
[Related: UCLA men’s basketball to face Arizona state with fast-paced offense]
Arizona, which is currently riding a 10-game win streak, is also powered by its star freshman forward.
Lauri Markkanen is sixth in the conference in scoring with 16.7 points per game, right behind Leaf who sits at 16.8.
Leaf also slightly edges Markkanen in field goal percentage – 64 percent to 51 percent. But Markkanen has shouldered a larger load for the Wildcats than Leaf has with the Bruins.
Arizona is missing sophomore Allonzo Trier, who averaged 14.8 points last year and was slated to be one of the leaders on this year’s team.
But the guard tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in the fall, and although he successfully appealed the NCAA’s suspension, must sit out until the drug is out of his system.
Two other Arizona players are out with injuries – redshirt freshman Ray Smith tore his ACL before the season started and senior forward Talbott Denny is out for the season with a knee injury.
The Wildcats will have point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright back after the junior missed six games with an ankle injury.
But even with Jackson-Cartwright – who led the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage in league play – back on the court, Saturday boils down to a showdown between elite-level freshmen.
“Two great teams, showtime environment, sold out,” Ball said. “Can’t ask for a better environment than that.”
Leaf and Ball versus Markkanen in front of 14,000 fans playing a game that could decide who the conference champion is in March.