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Gonzaga Basketball

Dates set for next two matchups in Gonzaga-UCLA basketball rivalry

Gonzaga forward Ben Gregg (33) blocks UCLA guard Dylan Andrews during the first half of the Zags’ 69-65 win at last year’s Maui Invitational in Honolulu. (By Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga and UCLA will resume their interesting nonconference rivalry in December each of the next two seasons.

The West Coast powers agreed to a two-game series in May. The dates are now set: Dec. 28 at the new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and Dec. 13, 2025, at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, according to a Gonzaga release.

December’s contest is being called the West Coast Hoops Showdown and it will be the first college game held at Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers’ new home.

Game times, television details and ticket information will be announced at a later date, but fans can receive additional information by registering at www.intuitdome.com/hoops2024.

The Zags are projected inside the top 10 in most preseason rankings. They return six of their top seven scorers, added transfers Michael Ajayi (Pepperdine) and Khalif Battle (Arkansas), and wing Steele Venters is expected to return from an ACL injury that sidelined him last season.

UCLA finished 16-17 overall and 10-10 in the Pac-12 in coach Mick Cronin’s sixth season. The Bruins, who join the Big Ten this season, bring back three of their top four scorers – Dylan Andrews, Sebastian Mack and Lazar Stefanovic – and added six transfers, including former Zags guard Dominick Harris, who averaged 14.3 points and made nearly 45% behind the 3-point line for Loyola Marymount last season.

Other key transfers: Kobe Johnson (USC), Skyy Clarke (Louisville), Eric Dailey Jr. (Oklahoma State), Tyler Bilodeau (Oregon State) and William Kyle III (South Dakota State).

Gonzaga and UCLA have collided each of the past four seasons, producing memorable outcomes. GU won all four games – three by a combined 10 points – and leads the series 7-2.

Anton Watson, selected by Boston in the second round of the NBA draft in June, took over with 32 points in GU’s 69-65 victory in the fifth-place game of the Maui Invitational last November in Honolulu. Julian Strawther, entering his second season with the Denver Nuggets, drained a late 3-pointer to lift Gonzaga to a 79-76 Sweet 16 victory in Las Vegas in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Andrew Nembhard, a third-year pro with the Indiana Pacers, scored 24 points in No. 1 Gonzaga’s 83-63 win over No. 2 UCLA in Las Vegas in November 2021.

Jalen Suggs banked home a 40-footer at the buzzer to carry the Zags to a 93-90 overtime victory in the national semifinals of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Suggs is coming off the best season of his three years with the Orlando Magic.

The Bruins edged Gonzaga 71-66 at the McCarthey Athletic Center in 2015 and handed the Zags a heartbreaking 73-71 setback in the 2006 Sweet 16.

Gonzaga posted wins in the 2015 NCAA Tournament (74-62) and 2015 regular season (87-74 in Pauley Pavilion) and in December 1999 (59-43), also at Pauley Pavilion.