UCLA men’s basketball nonconference schedule features no true road games
It will be a while before the UCLA men’s basketball team leaves the Pacific Time Zone in the upcoming 2025-26 season.
The Bruins announced an 11-game nonconference schedule Monday morning that features no true road games and just one game outside of the state of California.
The slate includes eight games at Pauley Pavilion, including the first three of the campaign against Eastern Washington (Nov. 3), Pepperdine (Nov. 7) and West Georgia (Nov. 10).
The first of three previously announced neutral-site games will be the Nov. 14 showdown against rival Arizona at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. Others include back-to-back games against California (Nov. 25) at Chase Center in San Francisco and Gonzaga (Dec. 13) at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
The contests against Arizona and Gonzaga will undoubtedly be UCLA’s biggest nonconference challenges before entering its second year of Big Ten play. The Wildcats have a deep Southern California fan base, while the Bulldogs’ campus is four hours from Seattle.
The 18-day gap is the longest stretch between nonconference games on UCLA’s schedule. Last season, the Bruins eased into Big Ten play in early December before finishing the out-of-conference slate.
Arizona State will be the highest-profile nonconference opponent visiting Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 17.
Big West Conference members Cal Poly (Dec. 19) and UC Riverside (Dec. 23) will be the final two opponents before UCLA finishes out the regular season with Big Ten play.
Last season, head coach Mick Cronin famously bemoaned a travel schedule that included seeing the Statue of Liberty twice in a three-week stretch while landing for games on the East Coast.
“Ask me UCLA’s record east of the Mississippi in the last 20 years,” Cronin said during an infamous postgame rant in mid-January. “When I got the job, I looked it up for scheduling purposes. It’s under .500, OK?
“We also saw the Capitol building. I mean, are you kidding me?”
UCLA’s full nonconference schedule
Nov. 3 – vs. Eastern Washington
Nov. 7 – vs. Pepperdine
Nov. 10 – vs. West Georgia
Nov. 14 – vs. Arizona (at Intuit Dome in Inglewood)
Nov. 18 – vs. Sacramento State
Nov. 21 – vs. Presbyterian
Nov. 25 – vs. California (at Chase Center in San Francisco)
Dec. 13 – vs. Gonzaga (at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle)
Dec. 17 – vs. Arizona State
Dec. 19 – vs. Cal Poly
Dec. 23 – vs. UC Riverside
