Villanova and UCLA announced a two-game home-and-home series that will begin with a meeting between the programs in Los Angeles on Nov. 12. Villanova will then host UCLA during the 2023-24 season to complete the series.
UCLA (22-10 overall) advanced to the 2021 NCAA Final Four while the Wildcats (18-7 overall) earned their seventh BIG EAST regular season title in the last eight seasons before advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
“We’re excited to begin this series with one of the iconic programs in college basketball,” stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “We were tested often by Mick Cronin’s teams during his time at Cincinnati and he’s done an incredible job in a short time at UCLA. We’re looking forward to another major challenge on the road this season in one of the great venues of college basketball, Pauley Pavilion.”
November’s clash will be the sixth meeting between the two programs in a series that began in the 1971 NCAA Final, won by the Bruins 68-62 in Houston’s Astrodome. Villanova made its only other visit to Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 13, 2001, falling to UCLA 93-65. A season later, the Wildcats scored their first ever win over the Bruins, 58-57, in Wright’s first season as head coach.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series 3-2. They earned an 89-69 victory over the Bruins in the 2009 NCAA Tournament Second Round action and posted an 82-70 in the 2010 NIT Season Tipoff at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Game time and television information will be released at a later date.
(Release via Villanova)
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