UNLV, UCLA Agree To Basketball Series In 2019, 2020
Rebels and Bruins schedule home and home series.
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First game is in Westwood.
UNLV added a big name opponent for its upcoming basketball season and the year after. College basketball reporter Jon Rothstein is reporting that the Rebels will play UCLA in 2019 and also 2020 in the non-conference slate.
The first game will be in Westwood next year with the return game being in the fall/winter of 2020. Exact dates are not yet known.
This is a big deal not just for the Mountain West but also UNLV. The Rebels have been able to land big-time opponents on its schedule. Sometimes a neutral game at T-Mobile Arena when Duke visited last year but getting a true home-and-home is a nice bonus for this league.
New Rebels head coach T.J. Otzelberger and athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois are doing great work with the hoops program to pull in a home-and-home like this.
Yes, UCLA is not what it was recently but they have the talent and are in the Pac-12 plus include that they are a historic program will only be great for UNLV if they are able to beat the Bruins.
In addition to UCLA, the Rebels have some other high-profile games by going on the road to face Cincinnati, BYU, and Cal; then according to Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UNLV is expected to host a pair of schools from a power conference which will be announced at a later date.
The Mountain West has tried for years to get teams to schedule bigger name opponents and this is part of that, as is Colorado State facing Duke next year, Boise State’s on going series with Oregon, or the high level tournaments that the Mountain West is finding itself participating in.
