LOS ANGELES – Seattle U men's basketball (3-1) continues its season-opening seven-game road swing on Thursday, Dec. 3 in Los Angeles, facing off against the first of two Pac-12 opponents on the 2020-21 slate in the UCLA Bruins (1-1). Tip off from Pauley Pavilion is set for 5 p.m. PT. The game will air live on the Pac-12 Network.
FOLLOW THE REDHAWKS
- Thursday, Dec. 3 at 5:00 p.m. PT
- Seattle U (3-1) at UCLA (1-1)
- Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
- Live Stats
- Listen on KTTH 770 AM
- Watch on Pac-12 Networks
- Game Notes
ABOUT THE SERIES VS UCLA
Seattle U and UCLA have met four times in the programs' histories with the Bruins winning all four previous meetings. The first encounter was Seattle U's final game of the 1955-56 season - a 94-70 UCLA win in the NCAA Tournament. The schools would not meet again until the 1964 NCAA Tournament, a 95-90 win for the Bruins. On Dec. 20, 1975, UCLA won 106-72 in Los Angeles. The last meeting between the two teams was Nov. 27, 1977 and resulted in a 106-73 Bruin win in Pauley Pavilion.
QUICK HITS
- Seattle U opened the 2020-21 season with three consecutive wins for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
- The Redhawks won a 63-45 decision against Air Force on Nov. 29 before dropped a 76-65 final to CSUN on Nov. 30 to wrap up play in the Vegas Bubble and move to 3-1 on the season.
- Sophomore Darrion Trammell had a career-high 25 points in the loss to CSUN. He has scored in double figures in all four games and is tied for the team lead at 18.3 ppg.
- Junior Rip Economou drained four threes on Nov. 29 against Air Force, notching a career-high 12 points.
- The Redhawks won their season opener for a second straight year, this time with an 84-72 victory over Portland on Nov. 25.
- The win over Portland was the fourth straight for Seattle U. The teams have met during each of the past four years and are set to meet again later this season.
- Riley Grigsby poured in a career-high 28 points in the season debut versus Portland. His performance over the first three games earned him WAC Player of the Week honors.
- The junior forward is shooting better than 49% from the field and 42 percent from three while also going 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.
- Freshman Kobe Williamson had an impressive collegiate debut with 10 points and nine boards against Portland. He is the first freshman to start a season opener since Morgan Means did so in 2016-17. Means finished with five points, three rebounds and three assists in that outing.
GRIGSBY NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Riley Grigsby was named TicketSmarter WAC Player of the Week for Nov. 23-29. This marks Grigsby's first career Player of the Week honor. The junior guard/forward from San Jose, Calif., averaged 18.3 points per game to lead the Redhawks to their first 3-0 start since the 2008-09 season. He opened the season with a career-high 28 points in an 84-72 win at Portland, adding six rebounds, four assists and two blocks against the Pilots. Against William Jessup, he had 14 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Continuing the road trip from Portland to Las Vegas, Grigsby scored 13 points with three assists and a block in a 63-45 win over Air Force.
WINNING WAYS
While the Redhawks' squad features 11 new faces, they are not all new to each other including a trio of junior college transfers from City College of San Francisco. Nate Robinson, Darrion Trammell and Emeka Udenyi spent the 2019-20 season as teammates for the Rams, who went a perfect 30-0 while averaging more than 100 ppg.
PRESEASON HONORS
Junior forward Riley Grigsby earned the first league recognition of his career, being named to the Coaches Preseason All-WAC Second Team. The San Jose, Calif., native is the Redhawks' lone returning starter and is coming off of a sophomore campaign that saw him average 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Grigsby led Seattle U in scoring twice and collected three double-doubles, including then career highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Grand Canyon on Feb. 20, 2020.
WAC PRESEASON POLLS
The Redhawks were selected to finished fifth in the Western Athletic Conference in both the WAC 2020-21 Preseason Coaches Poll and Media Poll. Reigning WAC champion NM State was selected to repeat the feat in 2020-21, earning eight of nine first-place votes in the Coaches' Poll. Coaches could not vote for their own team or players. The Aggies were also the first-place pick by the media. Grand Canyon was picked second in both polls, followed by UTRGV in third and California Baptist in fourth.
OVERTIME
• Seattle U is 5-3 in overtime games under Head Coach Jim Hayford. The Redhawks went 1-2 in extra time during the 2019-20 season, including an 88-87 loss at California Baptist on Feb. 29, 2020, which ultimately ended up being the final game of the shortened season.
• Seattle U also played triple overtime affair at Kansas City on Jan. 2, 2020, the longest game the Redhawks had played since a triple overtime defeat to Chicago State on Feb. 27, 2014.
AGAINST THE RANKS
A meeting with the nationally-ranked Washington on Dec. 17, 2019 was just the third game against a ranked opponent during Seattle U's modern-day DI era. Seattle U's last meeting with a ranked opponent came on Dec. 21, 2011, when it hosted No. 24 Virginia at KeyArena. The Cavaliers won, 83-77. The Redhawks' only other ranked match-up came on Mar. 3, 2009 against then No. 13 Washington. The Huskies would claim an 87-60 victory at Alaska Airlines Arena.
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK
The Redhawks surpassed the 100-point mark for the fifth time under Head Coach Jim Hayford with their 115-81 win over Pacific University on Nov. 12, 2019. They achieved the feat twice during his first season (121 vs. Puget Sound on Nov. 12, 2017; 102 vs. Detroit Mercy on Nov. 18, 2017) and twice in 2018-19 (107 vs. Northwest University on Nov. 28, 2018; 102 vs. Prairie View A&M on Dec. 20, 2018).