Men's Basketball Set for Trip to Australia

august 15, 2016 | ucla MEN'S BASKETBALL website | ARTICLE LINK

The UCLA men's basketball program will travel to Australia from Aug. 19-31, playing three games over the course of a 10-day trip to Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast.
 
The Bruins will play Sydney University on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at Sydney University's Brydens Stadium at 7:30 p.m. local time (2:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Los Angeles). UCLA's second game will be versus Melbourne United of Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the State Basketball Centre. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. local time (2 a.m. on Saturday in Los Angeles).
 
UCLA's final game, versus the NBL's Brisbane Bullets, will take place Monday, Aug. 29. The contest against Brisbane at Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre will begin at 7 p.m. local time (2 a.m. in Los Angeles).
 
"This is an exciting opportunity for our team to have a new cultural experience while also being able to measure our game against some very good Australian competition," UCLA head 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.  This trip is a wonderful way to cap off an extremely productive summer."
 
Updated information about online video streams of UCLA's games in Australia will be provided closer to the game dates. The cities in which UCLA will visit observe Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is 17 hours ahead of the Pacific Time Zone in the United States.
 
In addition to playing three basketball games, UCLA's student-athletes, coaches and support staff will have the chance to experience several cultural opportunities in Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast. Some of the trips highlights in Sydney will include visits to Coogee Beach and the Taronga Zoo, a tour of the Sydney Opera House and travel by ferry to Watson's Bay.
 
Off-court activities in Melbourne will include a visit to the 88-story-high Eureka Skydeck and tours of Rod Laver Arena (home to the Australian Open tennis tournament) and the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and National Sports Museum.
 
The third stint of UCLA's stay in Australia includes travel to Gold Coast (just south of Brisbane), where the Bruins will have opportunities to visit the Currumblin Wildlife Park and Surfer's Paradise along the Gold Coast beach.
 
UCLA's most recent offseason foreign trip took place in August 2012, when the Bruins visited Beijing and Shanghai in China as part of a Pac-12 goodwill tour.
 
Regular updates of the men's basketball team's travels in Australia will be provided on uclabruins.com, as well as the team's social media channels – Twitter (@UCLAMBB), Instagram (UCLAMBB) and Facebook (facebook.com/uclamensbasketball).