UCLA has been selected No. 20 in the preseason USA Today Coaches men's basketball poll, as released on Thursday. The Bruins will open their 2018-19 regular-season schedule against Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
 
UCLA's program returns redshirt juniors Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski and sophomore guards Kris Wilkes, Jaylen Hands and Chris Smith. All five of those student-athletes were prominent contributors in the team's eight-man rotation last season. In addition, UCLA welcomes back redshirt freshmen Jalen Hill and Cody Riley.

The Bruins have added six incoming freshmen – guards Jules Bernard, Tyger Campbell and David Singleton, forwards Kenneth Nwuba and Shareef O'Neal and center Moses Brown.
 
UCLA could play as many as 10 games against team who have been ranked or have received votes in the preseason top 25 poll. Teams ranked among the top 25 who are on UCLA's schedule include No. 10 Michigan State, No. 16 Oregon and No. 24 Washington. In addition, the Bruins could face No. 7 North Carolina in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational next month.
 
The Bruins return to action this Saturday night with a home exhibition game. UCLA will face New York Institute of Technology in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' exhibition game will be televised live by Pac-12 Network, and uclabruins.com will have a live audio broadcast.

Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll