Men's Basketball Secures Bid to NCAA Tournament

Tournament Bracket (PDF) | Coach Cronin's Presser | UCLA Players' Reaction

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team earned a No. 11 seed in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, as announced Sunday when the complete 68-team bracket was revealed on CBS.
 
The Bruins (17-9) will compete in the "First Four" on Thursday against No. 11-seed Michigan State (15-12) at Purdue's Mackey Arena (West Lafayette, Ind.). The winner of that game will face No. 6-seed BYU next Saturday.
 
UCLA's game on Thursday will begin at 6:57 p.m. PT (9:57 p.m. ET, in Indiana) and will be televised on TBS. Complete tip-off times and TV designations for every game are available here.
 
This will mark UCLA's second appearance in the tournament's "First Four" round, a series of play-in games that began in 2011.
 
UCLA secured its 50th all-time berth in the annual NCAA Tournament (and the team's first bid since 2018). Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, last season's NCAA Tournament was canceled just three days in advance of Selection Sunday.
 
The Bruins went 13-6 in Pac-12 play after having opened their league schedule with eight consecutive victories.
 
Most recently, UCLA absorbed an 83-79 overtime loss to Oregon State on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament. Oregon State defeated top-seeded Oregon on Friday and No. 3-seed Colorado in the tournament title game on Saturday night.
 
UCLA had a trio of sophomores named as All-Pac-12 selections last week. Tyger Campbell was one of 10 players in the league to secure first-team All-Pac-12 honors. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Johnny Juzang were among the five student-athletes selected as second-team honorees.
 
This marks the first season in which head coach Mick Cronin has led UCLA to the NCAA Tournament. Cronin, in his second year as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach, has guided his teams to each of the past 10 NCAA Tournaments – including a string of nine consecutive appearances while at Cincinnati (2011-2019).
 
Cronin is one of just five coaches in the nation to have led his teams to the past 10 consecutive NCAA Tournaments – along with Mark Few (Gonzaga), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Bill Self (Kansas) and Roy Williams (North Carolina).
 
UCLA seeks its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, when the Bruins advanced to the "Sweet 16" with consecutive wins in Sacramento.