UCLA Basketball: Oklahoma Game Thread -- Tough Opening Round Match in the Battle 4 Atlantis

The 4-0 Bruins meet the 2-1 Oklahoma Sooners in the Bahamas in the opening round of the super-stacked Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Tip-off is set for 11:30AM PT. You can catch the game on ESPN2. Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Andy Katz will be calling the game. You can also listen on Tunein Radio or 570 AM. Unfortunately, the cool live stats app doesn't look like it will be operative for this game (check back at uclabruins.com).

Read the BN preview and the official guide at uclabruins.com (from which you can click to their exhaustive stats and tidbits).

After beating LBST on Sunday, the Bruins climbed into the polls at #22/23 and Norman Powell won the PAC-12 POW award. Oklahoma, on the other hand, fell out of the AP poll after its loss to Creighton, but is still ranked #21 in the USA today poll. Oklahoma is led by do-it-all junior guard Buddy Hield who is averages 20.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 3.0 APG. They brought back three starters from a 23-10 Tournament team and added 6’8" just-cleared Houston transfer TaShawn Thomas to the front court.  At this writing, Oklahoma is a 3.5 point favorite.

Lots of Bruin hoops and football for the holidays!

Meanwhile, enjoy the game thread with your fellow BNers and Bruins.