UCLA’s fast start has already changed the conversation around the Bruins, and now the No. 9 team in the country gets another home test Wednesday when Arkansas-Pine Bluff comes to Los Angeles.
The Bruins are 2-0 and made the biggest jump in the first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 poll, climbing 13 spots after opening with a 2-0 week. That run included an 84-75 win over 2026 Final Four participant Arizona on Nov. 2, then a much more one-sided follow-up Friday in the 2026-27 home opener.
UCLA rolled past North Florida 114-63 behind a 35-0 burst that stretched across nearly the entire final nine minutes of the first half. Freshman wing Nikola Kusturica was the centerpiece, pouring in 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
“He’s a great player,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said of his 17-year-old talent from Serbia. “Not a good player, a great player because he does everything on the court.”
Cronin also highlighted Kusturica’s clean stat line in the win. The freshman did not turn the ball over, marking his second straight collegiate game without a giveaway. His scoring was obvious - including a 4 of 6 effort from 3-point range - but he has also made his presence felt on the other end with five blocked shots and three steals through two games.
Kusturica and blue-chip recruit Joe Philon III have given UCLA early production around a roster that still leans on experienced pieces. Eric Dailey Jr. and Trent Perry are back after being key parts of UCLA’s 2025-26 NCAA Tournament team, and the Bruins also have Xavier Booker and Brandon Williams in the mix.
Kusturica said the veterans helped him settle in quickly.
“When I came here, I was struggling a lot, just adjusting to the college game,” Kusturica said. “Eric especially helped me a lot (to) overcome the things that I was facing.”
Arkansas-Pine Bluff arrives with a very different kind of start. The Golden Lions are 0-2 and are in the third stop of an 11-game stretch away from home.
They won’t play their first home game until Dec. 16.
Wednesday’s matchup is the first of three straight in the Los Angeles area for UAPB, which will play Cal Baptist in Riverside on Friday and Southern California in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Still, there’s something for the Golden Lions to build on from last season. They finished above .500 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play for the first time in seven seasons, going 10-8 in the league and matching their high under coach Solomon Bozeman with 13 overall wins in his sixth season.
UAPB was picked 11th in the 12-team SWAC preseason poll, but it does have one of the conference’s top players in Jalen Tatum. The cross-conference transfer came over from Jackson State in the SWAC’s West division.
Tatum’s 2025-26 season was slowed by injury, but he still made a late push with an 18-point, four-steal performance in the SWAC Tournament. He opened this season with 16 points against Arkansas and followed that with 11 points and three steals against Baylor.
“We’ve been able to bring in some really good talent,” Bozeman said.
Tatum is the latest piece in Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s effort to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years.
“Our basketball players, they helped turn the program around,” Bozeman said.
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UCLAs Early Big Ten Surge Is Backed By One Clear Strength
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Jaylen Petty has been part of that early surge, and he is hardly carrying the load alone. UCLA has several players averaging at least eight points per game, which has helped keep the offense from leaning too heavily on any one scorer. The bigger question now is whether that depth and efficiency can keep holding up once Big Ten play tightens and opponents start game-planning for the Bruins most obvious strengths. [Read more 🡒]