SHANGHAI – The UCLA and Georgia Tech men's basketball teams will face off in the 2017 Pac-12 China Game presented by Alibaba Group, the Pac-12 announced Friday morning.
 
Longtime Pac-12 partner Federation of University Sports of China (FUSC), which operates under China's Ministry of Education, will serve as the co-host for the game.
 
The announcement came in the lead-up to the 2016 Pac-12 China Game, featuring Stanford and Harvard, which will be played this Saturday at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and televised live in the United States on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. PT on Friday.
 
The 2017 Pac-12 China Game between UCLA and Georgia Tech will tip off the 2017-18 basketball season with specific U.S. and China broadcast information to be finalized at a later date. The game is part of Pac-12 Global, an unprecedented effort to promote goodwill for the Conference and its member institutions through sport, and to provide student-athletes with a transformative cultural exchange experience.
 
"One of the reasons you come to UCLA is to play big games on the biggest stage," said UCLA men's basketball head coach Steve Alford. "I'd say playing in the largest country in the world against a tremendous ACC program like Georgia Tech qualifies as a pretty big stage. These are the kind of experiences that make the college game so great, and I know our guys will get a lot out of this, both on and off the court."
 
The Bruins' trip to China in November 2017 will mark UCLA's third basketball trip overseas in its last five-plus years. UCLA traveled to Beijing and Shanghai on a six-day Pac-12 goodwill tour in Aug. 2012 and spent 10 days on a foreign trip to Australia in Aug. 2016.
 
Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), the world's largest online and mobile commerce company will serve as the presenting sponsor after signing a two-year extension earlier this week. In addition to its sponsorship, Alibaba will distribute the game live via their mobile and digital distribution platforms and AliSports Group will support the game in the areas of sponsorship, ticketing, advertising and marketing.
 
"With our men's basketball team having previously visited China in 2012 for a goodwill tour and fresh off a trip to Australia this past summer, I know firsthand how valuable these once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences can be for our student-athletes," said UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero. "When you couple the experiential aspect of this trip with the chance to bring the UCLA brand to a country that has greatly embraced us, it almost goes without saying that we couldn't be more excited about this opportunity."
 
The FUSC is China's national solely authorized organization for university sports and operates under the Ministry of Education. Since 2011, the Pac-12 and FUSC have worked together to put on exhibition games featuring Pac-12 men's and women's basketball teams, as well as coaching clinics and educational symposiums on collegiate sports.
 
In addition to the game, the 2017 Pac-12 China Game will feature educational and cultural experiences for student-athletes and university delegations to ensure they make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
 
"We are thrilled to announce UCLA and Georgia Tech for next year's game," said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. "Once again, this game will feature two of the best universities in the world on an international stage. We look forward to showcasing the academic and athletic excellence of these two schools, and we anticipate a great reception from Chinese and global audiences."
 
About the Pac-12 Conference:
Recognized as the 'Conference of Champions' for its unequaled NCAA Championships, the Pac-12 Conference comprises the 12 leading universities located in the Western United States: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. For more information on the Conference's programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to www.pac-12.com/conference.
 
About Pac-12 Global:
Founded in 2011, Pac-12 Global is an unprecedented effort to proactively promote the Conference and its member institutions globally through student-athlete exchanges and sport. The Initiative uses the shared passion of athletics to support the ambitious international strategies that many of our universities have embarked on to extend their reach around the world. For more information on the initiative and its history, go to www.pac-12.com/global.
 
About Alibaba Group:
Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company is the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume. Founded in 1999, the company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with hundreds of millions of consumers and other businesses.
 
About FUSC:
FUSC, standing for Federation of University Sport of China and founded in 1975, is a member of
All-China Sports Federation (ACSF), Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF) and International
University Sports Federation (FISU). FUSC is the sole legal and authorized organization to organize
nation-wide university sport championships and games in China. Under the leadership of Ministry of Education, FUSC has developed 33 branch federations based on the sport events, namely, football, basketball, volleyball, track and field, bridge, etc. Each year, more than 50 championships are held by FUSC.