UCLA Basketball: Bruins to Engage in Multi-Year Game Series With Arizona

The UCLA-Arizona rivalry lives on.

Yannick Peterhans-USA TODAY Sports

UCLA men's basketball has agreed on a multi-year series against Arizona, the two schools announced Tuesday. UCLA and Arizona will face off in three of the next four seasons at neutral sites, preserving the rivalry between the two former Pac-12 schools.

UCLA is scheduled to head to Arizona on Dec. 14, 2024, to take on the Wildcats at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. They will take on Arizona in the 2025-26 season during the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas. The series will then come to Los Angeles, taking place at another neutral site during the 2027-28 season. The agreement does not include a game between the two programs during the 2026-27 season.

"We look forward to facing Arizona next season in Phoenix," UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said, via UCLA Communications. "It's a win-win situation for both UCLA and Arizona, as we want to preserve what has turned into a fantastic basketball rivalry out West. These are two schools with strong basketball traditions and passionate fan bases, and it's important for us to find ways to continue playing each other.

𝐔𝐂𝐋𝐀 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐚 ...

The Bruins will play @ArizonaMBB three times over the next four seasons, starting on Dec. 14, 2024, with a neutral-site contest at @FootprintCNTR in Phoenix.

🏀💻: https://t.co/PAO380v3TV pic.twitter.com/xNwCJaFxxB

— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) August 13, 2024

I have a lot of respect for Tommy Lloyd and the job that he has done the past three seasons at Arizona. His teams are talented and well-coached. Adding Arizona to our schedule next season will help our team as we move into Big Ten Conference play."

UCLA and Arizona will no longer be guaranteed to face each other every season due to conference realignment as the Bruins are now part of the Big Ten and Arizona has joined the Big 12. The two schools had gone up against each other every season since 1979, making this a longstanding rivalry for both programs.

The Bruins and Wildcats' rivalry also became significant as they were two of the top teams in Pac-12 men's basketball over the course of multiple recent seasons, fighting for both conference regular season and tournament titles. Arizona got the best of UCLA recently, defeating UCLA in the Pac-12 Championship Game in both 2022 and 2023. UCLA has the all-time edge though, with a 63-50 over Arizona.

Outside of USC, Arizona has often been UCLA's biggest rival in men's basketball. It's unsurprising to see this deal get done, as both coaches and schools have expressed wanting to keep the rivalry alive, which will now happen for at least the near future.