MANHATTAN, N.Y. “”mdash; Welcome to the Big Apple, everyone.
Well, even if you’re going to be stuck at home with your family (get to be stuck at home?), at least Bruin Sights is here in New York to give you the inside dish on the UCLA men’s basketball team throughout the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament.
The Bruins’ semifinal game against No. 7 Villanova tips tonight at 6 p.m. PST at the world-famous Madison Square Garden arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The other semifinal pits No. 24 Tennessee vs. Virginia Commonwealth, which upset Wake Forest in the preliminary rounds last week to gain the last spot in New York.
We thought we’d start off our barrage of content with a little historical context on this game.
Do any of these teams seem familiar?
In March of 2009, long ago when the Bruins were in the NCAA Tournament, sixth-seed UCLA barely avoided getting upset by 11th-seed VCU in the first round before getting knocked out by third-seed Villanova, 89-69, at the Wachovia Center (apparently the Wells Fargo Center, now) in Philadelphia.
Of course, two years in today’s world of college basketball has a lot of turnover, but – as you can see in the box score of that game – some of the same players remain on today’s team.
If you want more gory details from that game, here’s the Daily Bruin’s wrap from back in the day and also the highlights from CBS (don’t blink, you might miss the one or two UCLA clips in the reel).
UCLA junior guard Malcolm Lee was there as a freshman, but it looks like he’ll get a chance for revenge tonight. After suffering a sprained ankle last week, Lee wore a boot and didn’t practice with the team until Tuesday in New York. He is listed as probable for the game and will probably start at the off-guard position once again.
If that’s all too depressing, just think back to 1971 when UCLA and All-American Sidney Wicks beat Villanova to win the NCAA Title. You were totally alive then and remember that, right?