| Wide: | yes |
| Arizona–UCLA men's basketball rivalry | |
| Team1: | Arizona Wildcats |
| Team1logo: | Arizona Wildcats logo.svg |
| Team2: | UCLA Bruins |
| Team2logo: | UCLA Bruins script.svg |
| Sport: | College Basketball |
| Firstmeeting: | February 19, 1923 Arizona 30 – UCLA 43 |
| Mostrecent: | March 7, 2024 Arizona 88 – UCLA 65 |
| Nextmeeting: | December 14, 2024 Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ |
| Total: | 113 |
| Series: | UCLA leads, 63–50 |
| Largestvictory: | UCLA by 53 (March 10, 1983) |
| Longeststreak: | UCLA, 11 (February 17, 1979–March 8, 1984) |
| Currentstreak: | Arizona 3 (March 11, 2023–present) |
The Arizona–UCLA men's basketball rivalry is a college basketball rivalry between the University of Arizona Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins.
The rivalry dates from the first games in 1923, but the true intensity of the series would not occur until the addition of Arizona to the Pac-10 in 1978. Since becoming conference foes, the game is played typically twice per season. The Wildcats and Bruins have faced off 10 times in conference tournament games.
Before the arrival of Lute Olson at Arizona, the Bruins had won 21 of 24 games against the Wildcats. UCLA had been seen as the dominant college basketball program in the west, with few teams able to challenge UCLA for the throne beyond a few wins. The rivalry did not gather steam until Lute Olson's arrival in 1984, who compiled a 28–23 record against the Bruins during his tenure as Arizona's head coach.
Since then, the two schools competed for the Pac-10 (now Pac-12) Championship every year, with the two teams winning 23 out of the 31 conference titles, and 9 of 18 conference tournament titles. Arizona clinched their first conference title in 1986, when they won on the road at UCLA in Olson's third season.[1] [2] The UCLA-Arizona basketball rivalry is still seen as the match up of the two premier teams in the conference.[3] Also, the performance of the two schools influences the national opinion of the conference. Mike Montgomery, former head coach at both Cal and Stanford has stated, "...If those two are not good, the conference is not perceived as being good. People don't give credit to the schools across the board in the league."
After the end of the 2023−24 season, Arizona moved to the Big 12 Conference and UCLA moved to the Big 10 Conference, there was speculation if the rivalry would continue. The two teams agree to a three game series in neutral site locations. The 2024 game will be played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, the 2025 game will be played at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the 2027 game will be played at a location TBD in Los Angeles.[4]
| TBD Los Angeles, CA |
Arizona & UCLA have played 35 games when both programs were ranked. UCLA holds the overall advantage 20–15.
| Date | Home | Away | Result | Significance | Standing | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 20, 1976 | No. 5 UCLA† | No. 15 Arizona † | 82−66 | 1976 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1976-03-20-arizona.html | 1−0 | ||
| 2 | December 29, 1977 | No. 8 UCLA | No. 15 Arizona | 85−63 | – | 2−0 | ||
| 3 | January 13, 1990 | No. 19 UCLA | No. 18 Arizona | 73−67 | 1st match up in series history while members of the same Pac-10 conference & both teams were ranked https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/13/UCLA-73-Arizona-67/2083632206800/ | 3−0 | ||
| 4 | January 12, 1991 | No. 6 Arizona | No. 7 UCLA | 82−77 | – | 3−1 | ||
| 5 | February 10, 1991 | No. 14 UCLA | No. 5 Arizona | 105−94OT | – | 3−2 | ||
| 6 | January 11, 1992 | No. 6 Arizona | No. 2 UCLA | 89−87 | First match up between both programs ranked inside the top 10. Ended Arizona's 71 game home winning streak, 10th longest streak in NCAA history. https://tucson.com/sports/greghansen/martin-ucla-snapped-71-game-winning-streak-in-1992/article_97d66e6d-0f09-5d4e-8189-d9ec2051ef01.html[5] | 4−2 | ||
| 7 | March 12, 1992 | No. 8 UCLA | No. 2 Arizona | 89−81 | – | 5−2 | ||
| 8 | January 7, 1993 | No. 15 UCLA | No. 20 Arizona | 82−80 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-08-sp-822-story.html | 5−3 | ||
| 9 | January 20, 1994 | No. 2 UCLA | No. 9 Arizona | 74−66 | – | 6−3 | ||
| 10 | February 19, 1994 | No. 15 Arizona | No. 8 UCLA | 98−74 | Largest margin of victory (24 points) by either program while both programs were ranked | 6−4 | ||
| 11 | January 19, 1995 | No. 11 Arizona | No. 4 UCLA | 71−61 | https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11773054/arizona-vs-ucla-january-19-1995/ | 7−4 | ||
| 12 | February 18, 1995 | No. 6 UCLA | No. 12 Arizona | 72−70 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-20-sp-34049-story.html | 8−4 | ||
| 13 | January 20, 1996 | No. 18 Arizona | No. 13 UCLA | 88−79 | – | 8−5 | ||
| 14 | February 15, 1996 | No. 18 UCLA | No. 13 Arizona | 76−75 | – | 9−5 | ||
| 15 | February 13, 1997 | No. 11 Arizona | No. 24 UCLA | 66−64 | – | 10−5 | ||
| 16 | January 3, 1998 | No. 8 Arizona | No. 9 UCLA | 87−75 | – | 10−6 | ||
| 17 | January 2, 1999 | No. 10 UCLA | No. 6 Arizona | 82−75 | https://uclabruins.com/news/1999/6/21/207862894.aspx | 11−6 | ||
| 18 | March 6, 1999 | No. 13 Arizona | No. 12 UCLA | 87−70 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/terry-takes-wildcats-by-ucla/ | 11−7 | ||
| 19 | January 20, 2000 | No. 25 UCLA | No. 2 Arizona | 75−61 | https://www.espn.com/ncb/2000/20000120/recap/aaquaa.html | 11−8 | ||
| 20 | February 15, 2001 | No. 24 UCLA | No. 8 Arizona | 79−77 | https://uclabruins.com/news/2001/2/15/207885823.aspx | 12−8 | ||
| 21 | January 19, 2002 | No. 15 Arizona | No. 9 UCLA | 96−86 | https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2002/1/19/207954629.aspx | 12−9 | ||
| 22 | February 14, 2002 | No. 20 UCLA | No. 9 Arizona | 77−76 | https://uclabruins.com/news/2002/2/14/207810101.aspx | 13−9 | ||
| 23 | January 5, 2006 | No. 21 Arizona | No. 17 UCLA | 85−79 | https://uclabruins.com/news/2006/1/5/207886316.aspx | 14−9 | ||
| 24 | January 20, 2007 | No. 3 UCLA | No. 11 Arizona | 73−69 | https://uclabruins.com/news/2007/1/20/207900872.aspx | 15−9 | ||
| 25 | February 17, 2007 | No. 19 Arizona | No. 5 UCLA | 81−66 | Lute Olson's final game against UCLA, would finish with a 28-23 record all-time versus UCLA https://uclabruins.com/news/2007/2/17/207909599.aspx | 16−9 | ||
| 26 | March 15, 2013 | No. 24 UCLA† | No. 21 Arizona† | 66−64 | 2013 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tournament https://uclabruins.com/news/2013/3/15/207908951.aspx | 17−9 | ||
| 27 | January 21, 2017 | No.3 UCLA | No. 14 Arizona | 96−85 | https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2017/1/21/mens-basketball-no-14-arizona-shuts-down-no-3-ucla-in-96-85-win.aspx | 17−10 | ||
| 28 | February 25, 2017 | No. 4 Arizona | No. 5 UCLA | 77−72 | First meeting with both programs ranked in the top 5. First meeting on College GameDay & 4th College GameDay meeting overall (UCLA 3−1) https://uclabruins.com/news/2017/2/25/mens-basketball-no-5-ucla-upends-no-4-arizona-77-72.aspx | 18−10 | ||
| 29 | March 10, 2017 | No. 4 Arizona† | No. 5 UCLA † | 86−75 | 2017 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tournament https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2017/3/11/mens-basketball-no-7-arizona-beats-no-3-ucla-86-75-in-pac-12-semifinals.aspx | 18−11 | ||
| 30 | January 25, 2022 | No. 7 UCLA | No. 3 Arizona | 75−59 | Tommy Lloyd first Arizona/UCLA game https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2022/1/25/mens-basketball-no-3-arizona-suffers-first-pac-12-loss-at-no-7-ucla.aspx | 19−11 | ||
| 31 | February 3, 2022 | No. 7 Arizona | No. 3 UCLA | 76−66 | https://arizonawildcats.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2021-22/ucla/boxscore/25837 | 19−12 | ||
| 32 | March 12, 2022 | No. 2 Arizona† | No. 13 UCLA † | 84−76 | 2022 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tournament https://arizonawildcats.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2021-22/ucla/boxscore/26309 | 19−13 | ||
| 33 | January 21, 2023 | No. 11 Arizona | No. 5 UCLA | 58−52 | − | 19−14 | ||
| 34 | March 4, 2023 | No. 4 UCLA | No. 8 Arizona | 82−73 | − | 20−14 | ||
| 35 | March 11, 2023 | No. 2 UCLA† | . style="" | No. 8 Arizona† | 61−59 | 20−15 |