Friday, October 17
San Diego, Calif.
7:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

at

San Diego State (exhibition)

Steven Jamerson II and Trent Perry
Steven Jamerson II (left) and Trent Perry
Photo by: Jan Kim Lim

Men's Basketball to Play Exhibition Game at San Diego State

October 16, 2025 | Men's Basketball

SAN DIEGO โ€“ The No. 12-ranked UCLA men's basketball team will returnย to the court this Friday evening for an exhibition game at San Diego State. Game time is set for 7 p.m. (PT) at San Diego State's Viejas Arena.
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The Bruins will play a pair of exhibition games, prior to the regular-season opener on Nov. 3. In addition to this Friday night's showdown at Viejas Arena, UCLA will host UC Irvine on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. (PT) inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial.
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UCLA's exhibition contest at San Diego State will not be televised (or streamed). Fans can listen to the Bruins' live radio broadcast on KABC-AM 790, UCLA's new flagship station. The pregame show, anchored by UCLA's broadcast duo of Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray, will begin at 6:30 p.m., 30 minutes prior to tip-off at San Diego State. A live audio stream is available at UCLA's website by clicking here.
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UCLA's 15-man roster includes nine student-athletes who were on the team one year ago. In the offseason, the Bruins added five transfer students (including three graduate students) and one freshman, Markell Alston (from New York City). Four of UCLA's primary contributors from last season's team are back โ€“ seniors Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark, junior Eric Dailey Jr. and sophomore Trent Perry. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Williams and redshirt freshman Eric Freeny both practiced with the team last year as they took a redshirt season.
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Three of UCLA's top four scorers from last year's squad are back this year โ€“ Bilodeau (13.5 points per game), Dailey Jr. (11.4 ppg) and Clark (8.5 ppg). Bilodeau secured third-team All-Big Ten Conference honors, as recognized by the league's coaches. Clark led UCLA in 3-point shooting percentage (40.0%) and Bilodeau ranked second on the team in that category (39.7%).
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ON THE HORIZON: UCLA will open the regular-season schedule against Eastern Washington on Monday, Nov. 3. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. The Bruins will host three games in early November, against Eastern Washington, Pepperdine and West Georgia, before hopping on the freeway to face No. 13-ranked Arizona at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 14.
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Additional early home matchups in Pauley Pavilion include meetings with Sacramento State (Nov. 18), Presbyterian (Nov. 21) and Big Ten foe Oregon (Dec. 6). UCLA will host Arizona State (Dec. 17), Cal Poly (Dec. 19) and UC Riverside (Dec. 23) in a seven-day span before the calendar moves into Big Ten action.
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Fans can secure tickets for UCLA's upcoming men's basketball season by clicking here.
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UCLA AND SAN DIEGO STATE: While this Friday's game does not count in the official record book, the Bruins have compiled an all-time mark of 15-7 against San Diego State. The two programs last faced off in the season opener on Nov. 25, 2020, during a season in which fans were rarely allowed in the arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic. San Diego State defeated UCLA at Viejas Arena that night, 73-58. Prior to that game, UCLA hadn't played at SDSU since the 1991-92 season. Shon Tarver scored a team-high 26 points and Tracy Murray finished with a double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds) in UCLA's 84-64 win at the San Diego Sports Arena on Dec. 14, 1991.
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Sandwiched between those two games in San Diego was a neutral-site contest in Anaheim, Calif., early in the 2012-13 season. San Diego State took down the Bruins, 78-69, in the Wooden Classic at the Honda Center on Dec. 1, 2012. Jamaal Franklin registered a team-leading 28 points for San Diego State in that contest. Jordan Adams finished with 23 points, connecting on 5 of 9 shots from 3-point range, in the loss to the Aztecs that night.
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TOP 25 RANKINGS: The Bruins will open the 2025-26 season ranked No. 12 in the preseason Associated Press poll, as announced on Monday. UCLA went 23-11 overall last season and posted a 13-7 mark in Big Ten Conference play (tied for fourth place in the league standings). The top five teams in the preseason poll include No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 St. John's.
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The Bruins are one of six programs in the Big Ten Conference to have been ranked among the AP's top 25 teams. Also in the top 25 poll from the Big Ten are No. 7 Michigan, No. 17 Illinois, No. 22 Michigan State and No. 24 Wisconsin. Conference foes Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Washington have received votes in the preseason poll.
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This marks UCLA's highest preseason ranking (AP poll) since the 2022-23 season, when the Bruins opened at No. 8 in the AP poll.
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LOCAL CONNECTIONS: This Friday's game at San Diego State isn't all that far away from the hometowns for eight UCLA players. The Bruins have eight student-athletes who grew up in the greater Los Angeles region or the Inland Empire. Senior guard Donovan Dent, from Riverside, Calif., spent the past three seasons at New Mexico, competing in the Mountain West Conference against San Diego State. In addition, Eric Freeny (Corona, Calif.) and Anthony Peoples Jr. (Corona, Calif.) are from the Inland Empire. Hailing from the Los Angeles region are Trent Perry (West Covina), Christian Horry (La Cañada), Evan Manjikian (Glendale), Steven Jamerson II (Los Angeles) and Skyy Clark (Los Angeles).
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PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE: Senior guard Donovan Dent has been selected as one of 10 student-athletes to the preseason All-Big Ten Men's Basketball Team, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Dent, a 6-foot-2 guard from Riverside, Calif., averaged a team-leading 20.4 points and 6.4 assists per game as a junior last season at New Mexico. He transferred to UCLA in the summer of 2025 after having secured honorable mention AP All-America acclaim last spring. Dent was honored as the 2025 Mountain West Player of the Year and earned first-team all-league honors.
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Purdue guard Braden Smith has been named the conference's preseason Player of the Year, as the sole unanimous selection on the preseason all-league team.
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In addition to Dent and Smith, the preseason All-Big Team includes Iowa's Bennett Stirtz, Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg, Northwestern's Nick Martinelli, Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, Oregon's Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn and Wisconsin's John Blackwell.
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BIG TEN MEDIA DAY: Seniors Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark served as the student-athlete representatives at Big Ten Men's Basketball Media Day last week (Thursday, Oct. 9), hosted in the Chicago area at a convention center adjacent to O'Hare International Airport.
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Bilodeau and Clark, two central figures on UCLA's team last season, were joined by head coach Mick Cronin, who enters his seventh season as The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. Bilodeau, Clark and Cronin participated in a variety of interviews with media members, in addition to taping multiple promotional videos for use by the conference's national broadcast partners. The annual event in Chicago marked UCLA's second appearance at Big Ten Men's Basketball Media Day.
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"At this time of year, it's hard to get cohesive if you don't have a lot of guys available," Coach Cronin told reporters, speaking about preseason practices and preparation for exhibition games. "Practice becomes so important because you are trying to install your offense. Everybody is built on multiple transfers, so it's not like a lot of these guys have been playing together for two years. It's important to have guys out there, and fortunately we have been able to get a lot done."
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"As you turn the heat up, you will find out how guys respond," Coach Cronin continued. "I mean look, everybody looks good in the summer. Every coach loves his team. So now you get to a point where soon enough, like with us, you'll be going up against San Diego State on the road. Good luck scoring, so I try to put our team into tough situations. That's about trying to deal with reality. Our team is older and that was done by design. The portal has allowed for coaches to go get older players, more experienced guys. That is what we've tried to do. If you look at our additions from the portal, it's older guys. And sure, it's to be seen how we will respond individually against adversity โ€“ and adversity is a good opponent. As a group, who will we respond? Nowadays, everyone has to come together and become a team in a short period of time. Guys have to show leadership and be resilient, and we'll see on those things. We've brought in older guys who we think are of high character, and those guys tend to be great teammates and steer through adversity."
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INCOMING BRUINS: UCLA added six student-athletes to the roster in the offseason โ€“ graduate students Jamar Brown, Steven Jamerson II and Anthony Peoples Jr., along with senior Donovan Dent, junior Xavier Booker and freshman Markell Alston. The first five of those six student-athletes transferred to UCLA in the summer.
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Markell Alston โ€“ 6-foot-1 guard from Queensbridge, N.Y. (freshman)
Alston was a four-year varsity letterwinner at Christ the King High School in New York, playing for head coach Joe Arbitello. He also competed for the New York Gauchos (AAU). During Alston's senior season at Christ the King (2024-25), he averaged 13.1 points per game. He secured all-state honors from the New York State Sportswriters Association (Class AAA, seventh-team selection) and helped Christ the King to the semifinals of the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) playoffs in New York. Alston played at Christ the King alongside UCLA teammate Brandon Williams during his first two high school seasons.
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Xavier Booker โ€“ 6-foot-11 forward/center from Indianapolis, Ind. (junior)
Booker spent his first two collegiate seasons at Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. He averaged 4.3 points and 2.0 rebounds through 60 games with the Spartans. Booker shot 42.5 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from 3-point range in two seasons. He has scored at least 10 points in seven career games โ€“ five as a sophomore in 2024-25 and twice during his freshman campaign in 2023-24. Last season, Booker played in 33 games, making three starts at Michigan State.
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Jamar Brown โ€“ 6-foot-5 guard, from Chandler, Ariz. (fifth-year senior)
Brown averaged 16.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 62 games (61 starts) through two seasons at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). He shot 45.3 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point territory during his two seasons at UMKC. Prior to his two seasons in Kansas City, Brown attended Phoenix College in Arizona. He played at Phoenix College during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
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Donovan Dent โ€“ 6-foot-2 guard, from Riverside, Calif. (senior)
In three seasons at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Dent averaged 13.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He transferred to UCLA in the summer of 2025. While competing at UNM, Dent shot 50.3 percent from the field in three seasons, including a 36.8 clip from 3-point distance (46-for-125). The playmaker has scored at least 10 points in 67 career games (six as a freshman, 26 as a sophomore, and all 35 games as a junior) and has totaled 20 or more points in 27 games. He will enter his senior season having totaled seven career double-doubles โ€“ all of the point-assist variety. Dent tallied a career-high 40 points in a 78-71 win over VCU during his junior season (Dec. 18, 2024), with career highs in shots made (14) and shots attempted (26). Of the 28 basketball players who earned All-America or honorable mention All-America honors in 2024-25, six are returning to college in 2025-26 including Donovan Dent (All-America teams from the A.P., USBWA, NABC and Sporting News).
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Steven Jamerson II โ€“ 6-foot-10 forward/center, from Los Angeles, Calif. (redshirt senior)
Jamerson II has averaged 8.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 71 games (61 starts) over the past three seasons at the University of San Diego (USD). He has one year of eligibility remaining. Jamerson II transferred to UCLA in the summer of 2025. He has scored at least 10 points in 24 games (and 20 or more points in five contests). In addition, he has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 19 games. Jamerson II has totaled 10 double-doubles in his previous three seasons. He enrolled at Michigan State as a freshman in 2021-22, after graduating from Crespi High School (Encino, Calif.), but did not play on the basketball team that year.
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Anthony Peoples Jr. โ€“ 6-foot-9 forward/center, from Corona, Calif. (redshirt senior)
Peoples Jr. has played in 69 career games over the past three seasons. The 6-foot-9 forward/center from Corona, Calif. has one year of eligibility remaining, having taken a redshirt year in 2021-22 at The Master's University in Santa Clarita, Calif. He spent two seasons on the team at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, before spending the 2024-25 season at North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C. Peoples Jr. has scored at least 10 points in 15 career games โ€“ three games in 2022-23, 11 games in 2023-24 and one game in 2024-25.

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