The Wooden Legacy, a three-game tournament likely to provide the UCLA men’s basketball team’s best nonconference opponent this coming season outside of Kentucky, Ohio State and Michigan, revealed its bracket on Thursday. UCLA will open the four-day event against Portland on Nov. 24.
On Nov. 25 the Bruins will face either Dayton, a 2016 NCAA tournament team, or Nebraska, which finished 11th in the Big Ten last season. On Nov. 27, the Bruins will take on one of four teams from the other side of the eight-team bracket: Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, New Mexico and Cal State Northridge.
Last season Texas A&M won the SEC, Virginia Tech went to the NIT with a 20-15 mark in the deep ACC, New Mexico State finished fifth in the Mountain West and CSUN was 10 games under .500.
Portland, which finished eighth last season in the 10-team West Coast Conference, will have a new coach when it takes on the Bruins at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving at Cal State Fullerton. In April, Portland hired 17-year NBA veteran Terry Porter, who coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons and Phoenix Suns for 51 games before he was fired in 2009.
The Bruins’ haven’t competed in the Wooden Legacy since 2009, opting for tournaments like the Maui Invitational last season and the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2014. The two events matched up UCLA with the likes of North Carolina, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The complete UCLA 2016-17 schedule, including 18 Pac-12 Conference games, will be finalized later this summer.
UCLA 2016-17 nonconference schedule
Nov. 11 vs. Pacific
Nov. 13 vs. Cal State Northridge
Nov. 17 vs. San Diego
Nov. 20 vs. Long Beach State
Nov. 24 vs. Portland, Wooden Legacy at Cal State Fullerton
Nov. 25 TBD, Wooden Legacy at Cal State Fullerton
Nov. 27 TBD, Wooden Legacy at Honda Center
Nov. 30 vs. UC Riverside
Dec. 3 at Kentucky
Dec. 10 vs. Michigan
Dec. 14 vs. UC Santa Barbara
Dec. 17 vs. Ohio State at Las Vegas, Nev.
Dec. 21 vs. Western Michigan