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UCLA enters the new season looking to bounce back from a horrendous 2023-24 campaign where they went 16-17 in their last Pac-12 stint. This was a far cry from their 31-6 record in the 2022-23 season when they made it through the Sweet 16 in the 2023 March Madness.
The Mick Cronin-coached Bruins will attempt to rekindle glory as they make their debut in the Big 10 this year, along with fellow former Pac-12 members Oregon, USC and Washington.
UCLA's biggest games in the 2024-25 season
Although UCLA will announce its complete 2024-25 men's basketball schedule in September, the Bruins have already arranged two non-conference games that college basketball fans should mark on their calendars.
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First is against six-time national champions North Carolina on December 21 at the Madison Square Garden in New York. This is part of the 2024 edition of the CBS Sports Classic that will also feature Kentucky and Ohio State.
It will mark the second time Mick Cronin and his men play at the MSG in three seasons. Tip-off for the Bruins-Tar Heels game is at 3:00 p.m. ET.
A week later, UCLA and Gonzaga will square off in the first of its two-year series dubbed the "West Coast Hoops Showdown" at the Intuit Dome. Cronin expressed excitement in his team's upcoming clash with the Bulldogs as it will be the first-ever college basketball game at the stadium (also known as home to the LA Clippers).
"This is a great opportunity for our young men to play under the bright lights in a brand-new venue down the road in Inglewood. I know that the Clippers' organization is looking forward to moving into this new arena, and we are very grateful to partner with Gonzaga for the opportunity to play there," Cronin said via the UCLA Bruins official website.
Meanwhile, UCLA will have 10 home and away games in the Big 10 for the regular season. Under the conference setup, teams will have to play three conference teams twice and the rest of the 14 schools once while the season is ongoing.
UCLA will play crosstown foe USC, as well as Oregon and Washington, twice in a home and away format. Meanwhile, the Bruins will host Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Rutgers; then visit Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
UCLA has a winning record against most of the Big 10 teams. The Bruins are 147-116 all-time against USC, 108-44 against Washington, 94-42 against Oregon and have won at least 10 games against Purdue (10-3) and Michigan (13-6).
Key UCLA players to watch out for in the 2024-25 season
UCLA will have eight returnees, five transferees and three recruits from high school for this season's campaign. Three of the Bruins' top scorers — Dylan Andrews, Sebastian Mack and Lazar Stefanovic — are back with the team to accomplish some unfinished business from the previous year.
Andrews averaged 12.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game while Mack and Stefanovic tallied 12.1 ppg and 11.5 ppg, respectively.
They will be joined by seven-foot-three Aday Mara, who is set to become the team's top center following the departure of big man Adem Bona. Another player who will have additional workload this season is six-foot-seven Brandon Williams, who previously started 14 of 32 games and averaged 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds.
The Bruins recruited a ton of standouts from the transfer portal and the most notable among them is Skyy Clark. The six-foot-three guard will have a homecoming of sorts as he hails from Los Angeles.
During Clark's stint with Louisville last season, he averaged 13.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 41.2%.
UCLA also picked up defensive specialist Kobe Johnson from rival USC. The six-foot-six junior had two consecutive seasons where he averaged 2.2 steals per game. This past season, he averaged 10.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 3.3 apg in 31.0 minutes.
Eric Dailey Jr. is an effective two-way player who can play guard and forward while Tyler Bilodeau (14.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 53.3% fg) and William Kyle III (13.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg and 62.3% fg) are wide-bodied forwards who can score points inside the paint.
The freshmen recruits are no pushovers either as Trent Perry, Christian Horry, the son of NBA great Robert Horry, and Eric Freny are highly-touted prep players who are expected to play major minutes for the Bruins this season.
UCLA's predictions for the 2024-25 season
UCLA has assembled a strong lineup that can contend in the revamped Big 10 Conference. The conference is made up of strong teams like last season's runner-up Purdue and prominent teams Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State and Rutgers, so it will be interesting to see how the Bruins would match up against them.
Based on their schedule and their lineup, it's safe to say that UCLA can win between 18 and 20 games, considering the strength of other teams in the conference. It will be a great achievement for the Bruins if they win 25 games in the competitive Big 10 and make the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
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