LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team will host an exhibition game against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Tuesday, Oct. 31, six days in advance of the Bruins' regular-season opener on Monday, Nov. 6.
 
The Bruins' exhibition contest on Tuesday will begin at 6 p.m. (PT) in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The game will livestreamed on uclabruins.com (video link here), with broadcaster Nick Koop calling the game live.
 
The men's basketball team returns four of its rotation players from last season. The Bruins went 31-6 in 2022-23, capturing the Pac-12 regular-season crown with an 18-2 league record. UCLA earned its first Pac-12 regular-season title since 2013 and advanced to the Pac-12 Tournament's title game, losing to Arizona, 61-59, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Bruins entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West Region, defeating No. 15-seed UNC Asheville and No. 7-seed Northwestern before losing to No. 3-seed Gonzaga, 79-76, in the tournament's Sweet 16.
 
"This season, we are going to have to get better as we go," said Mick Cronin, who enters his fifth year as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "We've got to get experience and get better as we go, making adjustments as we go. You have to adjust as a coach. We will have to develop our own, organic identity with this team, and it'll take games. It will take time because you have to go through adversity and see how you respond to that."

Tuesday evening's exhibition game will offer UCLA fans their first opportunity to watch a new-look Bruins' squad on the court (ticket information here). UCLA will take on a Cal State Dominguez Hills squad that registered a 12-16 overall record last season. Cal State Dominguez Hills, located just 23 miles southeast of UCLA's campus, went 8-14 last year in the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association, competing at the NCAA Division II level).
 
UCLA has been ranked No. 25 in the preseason USA Today Coaches' poll and sits just outside of the Associated Press' preseason top 25 poll, in the "also receiving votes" category.
 
The Bruins' program has welcomed eight incoming players in 2023-24, after having lost its top five scorers from one year ago. The four rotation players back with UCLA from last year's roster include fifth-year and redshirt senior Kenneth Nwuba, sophomores Dylan Andrews and Adem Bona and redshirt sophomore Will McClendon. All four of those student-athletes played in at least 27 games last season.
 
The eight incomers include one transfer, Lazar Stefanovic from the University of Utah, and seven freshmen – Berke Buyuktuncel, Ilane Fibleuil, Sebastian Mack, Aday Mara, Jan Vide, Brandon Williams and Devin Williams. Stefanovic, a 6-foot-7 guard from Serbia, spent his first two collegiate seasons playing in the Pac-12 at Utah, before transferring to UCLA in the summer.
 
UCLA will lean upon Bona and Nwuba in the frontcourt, and Stefanovic and Andrews in the backcourt to provide leadership and experience. Nwuba has played in 90 career contests over four seasons, opting to take advantage of a fifth year of eligibility afforded to players during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 college basketball season.
 
The Bruins will need to overcome the loss of multiple veteran players from the past few seasons. Jaime Jaquez Jr. graduated in June and was a first-round draft selection by the Miami Heat. Tyger Campbell and David Singleton concluded their collegiate careers as seniors, Jaylen Clark was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and then-freshman Amari Bailey was chosen by the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Draft.
 
UCLA's team was slotted No. 3 in the Pac-12 Conference's preseason media poll, as revealed earlier this month at Pac-12 Media Day in Las Vegas (details here). Coach Cronin, along with Bona and Stefanovic, represented the Bruins' program at the league's annual media day.
 
With such an influx of new faces in the offseason, the Bruins traveled to Spain in late August for a nine-day foreign trip, playing three games in three cities (Spain trip details here). Along the way, the team enjoyed various sightseeing activities in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. The NCAA allows college basketball teams to travel to foreign countries once every four years, playing exhibition contests and being able to secure additional summer practices.
 
UCLA's freshmen group includes three student-athletes from the United States (Sebastian Mack, Brandon Williams and Devin Williams) and four from Europe – Berke Buyuktuncel (Turkey), Ilane Fibleuil (France), Aday Mara (Spain) and Jan Vide (Slovenia).
 
Mara (7-foot-3), Devin Williams (6-foot-10) and Buyuktuncel (6-foot-9) are expected to vie for playing time in the Bruins' frontcourt. Mara and Buyuktuncel have substantial international experience, representing their respective home countries in FIBA competitions.
 
"When you're Aday's size at 7-foot-3, you do stand out," Cronin said. "He can shoot and pass and he's got a tremendous skill level. He's one of the youngest freshmen in the country. Berke, who comes to us from Turkey, is a left-handed and versatile player who can shoot the three, drive it, can post up and score and has experiences on the big international stages. He was a big factor for the Turkish national team, within their age group classifications."
 
Devin Williams starred at nearby Corona Centennial High School in the Inland Empire for the past three seasons, helping his high school program to three straight CIF Southern Section Open Division titles. He averaged 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds during his senior season.
 
Brandon Williams (6-foot-7) played at Christ the King High School in New York and has the ability to play at the small forward and shooting guard positions. Williams, the youngest men's basketball student-athlete in the Pac-12 this season, was an all-league selection during his senior year, leading Christ the King to a 23-5 overall record.
 
"Devin is a great athlete who is getting stronger and wants to learn," Cronin said. "He's the future for us on the interior, with great skill and quickness. And Brandon has great size, great versatility, and brings a lot more toughness than most freshmen bring to the court. He just wants to help UCLA win."
 
Newcomers in the backcourt, in addition to Stefanovic, include Vide (6-foot-6), Fibleuil (6-foot-6) and Mack (6-foot-2). Stefanovic played in 63 games (33 starts) over the last two years at Utah. He averaged 10.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game at Utah last season.
 
Mack spent his senior year at Coronado High School in Las Vegas, averaging 24.0 points and 6.0 rebounds. Both Vide (Slovenia) and Fibleuil (France) accrued plenty of international experience the past several years for their home countries. Vide spent his high school years at school in Madrid, while Filbeuil attended INSEP Academy in Paris. Both Vide and Filbeuil are expected to compete for playing time in the Bruins' backcourt this season.
 
"Sebastian has great explosiveness and has shown bursts of speed to get into the paint and get fouled," Cronin said. "He's got natural ability and his speed is hard to teach. Ilane is a great athlete on the wing and can really rebound the ball. He's a great athlete with huge upside. Jan Vide can play the point guard, and we believe he's a tremendous prospect who has been very well-coached. We are really lucky to have him here."
 
Following Tuesday evening's contest against Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Bruins will begin their regular-season schedule with three consecutive home contests. UCLA will face Saint Francis University, from Pennsylvania, on Monday, Nov. 6. The Bruins will also take on Lafayette on Friday, Nov. 10, and Long Island University on Wednesday, Nov. 15.
 
UCLA will compete in the 2023 Maui Invitational, to be played in Honolulu, from Nov. 20-22. The Bruins' first game in that eight-team field will be No. 5-ranked Marquette on Monday, Nov. 20. UCLA could face either No. 1-ranked Kansas or Chaminade University on Tuesday, before taking on either Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee or Gonzaga on Wednesday.