How To Watch/Stream: UCLA Bruins vs. Sydney University Lions Basketball From Australia

As the UCLA Men’s Basketball team plays the first game of its Australian tour tonight at 2:30 am PT, I find myself thinking of the 1978 film Matilda.

IMDB summarizes Matilda like this:

A former English boxing champion, Billy Baker, arrives in America with a kangaroo with an unusual talent for boxing. Needing to support himself, he reluctantly joins up with a small time talent agent featuring the kangaroo, Matilda (who's a male kangaroo despite the feminine name) as a carnival act. But when the world heavyweight boxing champion, Lee Dockerty, offers to take Matilda on at the carnival to impress a girlfriend, and Matilda KO's Dockerty into the middle of next week with a single punch, Billy and his marsupial friend are catapulted into the big time, with Matilda now headlining main boxing events, and soon ready to challenge Dockerty for his championship title. This attracts the notice of a mob boss who wants control of Matilda and his growing fame and fortune, and an activist determined to see Billy and Bernie stopped for promoting cruelty to animals.

It has me pondering the question, "Could a kangaroo do a better job coaching the UCLA Men’s Basketball team than Steve Alford did last year?"

Something tells me that many Bruin fans might just answer "Yes!" to that question. And, while the team’s Australian tour might seem like the perfect time to find out, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

That said, I’m also reminded of the popular Twitter hashtag #Pac12AfterDark, which, while mainly used for football, and, more specifically, the strange things that seem to occur during Pac-12 night football games, certainly seems applicable here. After all, it is a 2:30 am PT tip-off.

But, then again, perhaps the #Pac12AfterDark hashtag is too trendy and we need a new one for a game like this. Perhaps, it should be #Pac12BeforeDawn or #Pac12AfterMidnight.

But, if you’re a diehard Bruin fan, you might want to stay up tonight to see the first glimpses of Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf in a Bruin uniform. Or, heck, maybe you just want to see if Bryce is still starting at point. That alone will probably get me to tune into the live stream.

When a football powerhouse plays a team of...lesser quality...it’s often said that it’s the lesser team’s "Bowl Game", especially if they’re hosting, because it’s the biggest game they’ll play that season.

While some of the lustre may have faded from the UCLA Men’s Basketball team under Steve Alford, Syndey University sure seems to be treating tonight’s game as their "Bowl Game".

After all, they’ve sold out the game and they’re still promoting the heck out of it on social media.

And, that brings me to the actual reason for this article. We’ll have a game thread up later tonight for all you night owls on the West Coast or early birds on the East Coast, but this will give you the details on how to watch/stream this game.

How To Watch, Listen, and Stream:

Game Date/Time:

• Tuesday, August 23, 2016, 2:30 am PT

Location:

• Brydens Stadium, Sydney, AUS

Preseason Tour Notes:

• UCLA

US TV/Radio:

• None

Online:

• Australian Sports Network

So, to recap...we’ve got the #Pac12AfterDark or #Pac12BeforeDawn, depending on where you live. We’ve got a star-studded recruiting class playing in their first game. And, we’ve got a head coach who could potentially be outcoached by a kangaroo.

What could possibly go wrong?

And you were going to sleep through all that? I can understand falling asleep during the game. But, if you’re up you need to watch as much of the game as you possibly can.

Go Bruins!!!