National Stage Set for UCLA, West Virginia

This is a big-deal game for No. 12-ranked West Virginia, getting to play 18th-ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion at 12:45 p.m. today on national television across 70% of the country.

“This is West Virginia’s first time on CBS in over 20 years,” Mountaineer Coach John Beilein said. “Every opportunity for us to be on TV is good.”

But this is a big-deal game for the Bruins (15-3) as well. It is a chance to prove to a national audience that UCLA basketball is a factor. It is an opportunity for sophomores Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo to showcase themselves as one of the premier guard combos in the NCAA. It is a chance for Coach Ben Howland to display a team low on healthy bodies but high on everything else.

For the last month, as UCLA has lost a starting center (Lorenzo Mata, broken leg), two starting forwards (Cedric Bozeman, shoulder, and Josh Shipp, hip), the Bruins have also displayed an aggressive, active, hard-nosed man-to-man defense and rhythmic, choreographed interior passing helped by the steady hands of freshmen Alfred Aboya, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Mike Roll.

“You have to deal with adversity as it comes your way,” Howland said. “I never feel like injuries can be a blessing in disguise. But it gives somebody else the opportunity to step up. Obviously, I’d prefer to be perfectly healthy and not have to deal with the most injuries of anybody I know. But we’ve dealt.”

The Mountaineers (13-3) bring an 11-game winning streak to Pauley. Last year, West Virginia was an unlikely participant in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight, and Beilein’s team is winning the same way it did in the 2005 postseason -- with three-point shooting and clever interior play by 6-foot-11 center Kevin Pittsnogle.

West Virginia ranks second among Division I teams by making an average of 11.2 three-point field goals a game and senior forward Mike Gansey is third in the country in three-point shooting percentage, at 51.9%.

“They’ve taken 946 shots,” Howland said of West Virginia, “and 472 of them have been threes. That’s a lot. There can’t be any other team in the country that has taken that many threes. I’m astounded that half their shots are threes and their two best players are shooting 50%. Pittsnogle and Gansey are NBA players.”

West Virginia also leads the country in committing the fewest fouls per game and collecting the most assists.

The way to counter that, Howland said, is to be smart and aggressive.

“They’re primarily a team that plays zone, a 1-3-1 and a 1-3-1 extended,” he said. “But they will play some man-to-man. You have to attack aggressively and handle the double-team. Then you have to make some shots and make good decisions.”

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TODAY

No. 12 West Virginia at No. 18 UCLA

12:45 p.m., Channel 2

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Radio -- 570.

Records -- Bruins 15-3, Mountaineers 13-3.

Update -- The Bruins step out of the Pacific 10 Conference for nationally televised exposure against Big East power West Virginia. The last time the Mountaineers came to Pauley, on Dec. 21, 1968, UCLA was ranked No. 1, Lew Alcindor was the center and West Virginia was blown out, 95-56.

Tickets -- (310) 825-2946.