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No. 1 UCLA meets No. 6 Texas A&M at John Wooden Classic

Dec 9, 2006 - 3:36 PM No. 6 Texas A&M (7-1) at No. 1 UCLA (7-0) 2:30 pm EST

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- There is always an extra touch of pressure on UCLA whenever the Bruins play in a competition named for their legendary former coach.

After winning last month's Maui Invitational, top-ranked UCLA looks to remain undefeated Saturday when it faces No. 6 Texas A&M at the John Wooden Classic.

The Bruins are 6-3 in the Classic, named for their 96-year-old Hall of Fame coach, who spent 27 seasons at UCLA and won 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years, including an unprecedented seven in a row (1967-1973).

UCLA returned from Hawaii and had a relatively easy time defeating three Big West Conference opponents, yielding an average of 50 points in those victories.

Arron Afflalo scored 20 points, Josh Shipp added 16 and Lorenzo Mata grabbed 15 rebounds for the Bruins, who forced 28 turnovers in Tuesday's 78-54 victory over Cal State-Fullerton.

Texas A&M opened with seven victories against predominantly mid-major competition before losing to its first ranked opponent of the season in a 62-54 defeat to Louisiana State.

Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 18 points and Joseph Jones added 12 for the Aggies, who were outrebounded, 30-22, and shot just 37 percent (19-of-51) from the floor.

UCLA has won both previous encounters against Texas A&M, including a 117-53 rout under Wooden on December 11, 1971. It is the fourth-largest victory margin in school history.