UCLA vs. Central Arkansas: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

In what was supposed to be a fun foreign trip to China, it ended with three of their players unable to come back home. Now the rest of the UCLA Bruins have to put the drama in the rearview mirror for a game against Central Arkansas.

TV schedule: Wednesday, Nov. 15, 11:00 p.m. ET, PAC-12 Network

Arena: Pauley Pavillion in Los Angeles, California

By now, everyone is aware of the shoplifting incident that has kept freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill from leaving China. They currently are serving some sort of “house arrest” by the hotel and will remain in the Asian country for a couple more weeks it seems.

With the three unable to play, Steve Alford was left to use just seven rotation players. The good news for the Bruins was that they were playing a team in a similar situation in Georgia Tech. In a battle of attrition, UCLA squeaked by with a 63-60 victory. The two freshmen left playing, Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands, combined for 32 points and eight boards to lead the team.

Another team at full strength would have probably beaten the distracted team. Now the team is back stateside, taking on a Central Arkansas team and hoping to take advantage of the current situation. The Bears come from the Southland conference where they only reached eight total wins a year ago but return their top two players in seniors Jordan Howard and Mathieu Kamba. In their first game of the season, a 107-66 loss at No. 24 Baylor, Howard put in 22 points. He will be the main threat that the Bruins will need to shut down.

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The goal for UCLA for not only this game but others is to just stay afloat before they can get their players back. Although assuming that there’s a suspension looming once they arrive stateside, it might be awhile before we see this team intact. This would be a good time to get role players like Prince Ali and Gyorgy Goloman some more playing time, and this game will present those opportunities.

Prediction: UCLA 103 – Central Arkansas 73