UCLA to play home-and-home basketball series with Gonzaga

Gonzaga will visit Pauley Pavilion this winter, beefing up what should be a much more impressive nonconference schedule for UCLA basketball.

Zags athletic director Mike Roth told the Gonzaga Bulletin that the game will be a part of a home-and-home series with UCLA, with the Bruins visiting Spokane in 2015-16.

The Bulldogs finished 29-7 this past season, losing to Arizona in the round of 32. They will have four-star point guard Josh Perkins, whom UCLA missed on last summer, as well as Kentucky transfer Kyle Wiltjer.

Bruins head coach Steve Alford has said often that he wants to schedule more marquee games, and also secured one against title-game finalist Kentucky this December at the United Center in Chicago. In his first season, Alford faced a nonconference schedule that included only two top-50 RPI teams: Missouri and Duke, the latter squeezed in as a last-minute addition.