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The UCLA Men's Basketball team is heading to Australia. The schedule for the trip was announced in a press release posted to the official site. The schedule for the upcoming 10-day trip includes stops in Sydney, Melbourne, and Gold Coast.
The Bruins will play three games over the course of the trip. The first game is on Tuesday, August 23rd, against Sydney University in Sydney. Next, the Bruins will travel to Melbourne to take on the Melbourne United of Australia’s National Basketball League on Saturday, August 27th. And on Monday, August 29th, the Bruins will play their final game against the Brisbane Bullets, also of the NBL. UCLA Basketball Coach Steve Alford said:
With college programs allowed to take a foreign trip once every four years, our time in Australia is that rare chance for us to travel abroad as a team, and we're going to take full advantage to make sure, as a an entire group, that we grow together both on the basketball court and away from the gym.
Video streaming will be available for the first game. There will not be a live stream for the second game and it is not yet known if there will be a live stream for the third game. The article on the official site will be updated with more information about streaming as the games approach. The first game will tip off at 2:30 am PT Tuesday morning while the remaining games will tip off at 2:00am PT.
The Bruins are coming off a disappointing 15-17 season, finishing 10th in the Pac-12 conference, the worst conference finish in program history. The additions of highly touted freshmen Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf to a returning group of players have set expectations high for Steve Alford in the 2016-17 season.
GO BRUINS.
[Editor's Note]: This article was updated to provide more information about the live streaming of the Australian games inlcuding the link for the first game.