Villanova, UCLA men's basketball announce home-and-home starting in 2021
Add another contender to the list of teams the Bruins will have to face down during nonconference play.
UCLA men's basketball announced Wednesday it had agreed to a home-and-home series with Villanova, with the first game scheduled for Nov. 12 at Pauley Pavilion. The second leg will be completed during the 2023-2024 season in Philadelphia.
The Bruins now have nonconference matchups with Gonzaga, North Carolina, Marquette and Villanova coming up this fall. Those four programs have appeared in a combined 31 Final Fours and collected a total of 10 NCAA championships between them.
The games against the Bulldogs and Tar Heels will both take place in Las Vegas, however, and the matchup with the Golden Eagles is going down in Milwaukee. UCLA had been missing a premier home game prior to Wednesday's announcement, and now it has a major draw for fans and national media before the start of conference play in mid-December.
"We wanted to schedule a great home game for our fans in Pauley Pavilion, and Villanova provides exactly that," Cronin said in a statement. "In today's era of so many neutral site contests and power five leagues that play 20 conference games, a series like this is tough to schedule. I also know our players will be excited about playing a great team like the Wildcats."
The Wildcats have won their last three head-to-head matchups with the Bruins, one of which was in the Round of 32 and another was played at Madison Square Garden. The last time the teams faced off at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA came out on top 93-65 on Jan. 13, 2001.
The highest-profile game between the Bruins and Wildcats was also the first – the 1971 NCAA championship game, in which Steve Patterson and his 29 points helped lift UCLA to a 68-62 victory and the program's fifth-straight title.
Tip-off time and the TV network showing the Nov. 12 game have yet to be determined.
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
