The UCLA men’s basketball team continued its preparations for the NCAA Tournament on March 19, spending its first full day in Philadelphia ahead of a first-round matchup against the University of Central Florida. The Bruins, seeded seventh, are set to play UCF at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday evening, with national television coverage scheduled on TBS.
This appearance marks UCLA’s fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last six seasons and its tenth since 2012-13. The team has returned to Xfinity Mobile Arena—home of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers—for the third time in five years, having previously played Villanova there in December 2023 and North Carolina during the 2022 tournament.
Coach Mick Cronin addressed media about his team’s readiness, saying, “The hay’s in the barn for us… You try to do a little bit more each day, but the more experience you get with this, you realize you have to have your guys ready to play on game night. They only have so many games left in them. I don’t know if they have any hard practices left in them. I’m a believer in once we get to doing something really hard, really well, stop it. Get to the next thing. Next thing, next thing, stop practice, at this time of year. If you have to build habits by over practicing on March 18th, you haven’t done your job all year. Better be ready to play on game night.” Senior guards Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent also spoke at a press conference following an hour-long workout and open practice at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Clark reflected on his experience with UCLA basketball: “Absolutely, it’s definitely a blessing just to be part of this, to be part of the history, part of the tradition,” he said. “It’s a lot to carry for sure, but it motivates us to go out there and just do what we can.”
UCLA enters the tournament with a 23-11 record after tying Purdue atop Big Ten standings and advancing through wins over Rutgers and Michigan State before falling to Purdue in the semifinals. The Bruins lead their conference in three-point shooting percentage (38.2 percent) and rank high nationally for both made threes and individual performances from players like Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent.
Friday’s winner will advance to face either second-seeded UConn or fifteenth-seeded Furman on Saturday.
