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May 31—The UNM Lobos will play the UCLA Bruins in Las Vegas, Nevada, in November.
The Journal on Friday reviewed the contract signed by UNM with the event organizer — GS Global Sports, LLC. The contract states UNM will play the Big Ten’s UCLA at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 8 in an event that does not yet have a formal name.
“We are excited about the opportunity to play one of the iconic brands in all of college basketball with UCLA,” Lobos coach Richard Pitino said. “This will be one of the most challenging nonconference schedules in our program’s history. We look forward to the challenge”
The game is one in a slate that signals a significant uptick in nonconference competition from UNM’s norm (not only recently, but historically).
This past season, despite a final NET ranking of 26, eight wins over NCAA Tournament teams, five Quadrant 1 wins and 26 victories overall, the chair of the NCAA Selection Committee said on March 17 that the Lobos would not have made the NCAA Tournament had they not won four games in four days to secure the Mountain West Tournament championship and earn the league’s automatic berth.
UNM’s nonconference strength of schedule last season, according to their team sheet used to compile the NET rankings, was 220th out of 362 Division I teams.
While the UCLA game has been agreed to for some time, contracts had not been finalized as of Thursday. CBS Sports Jon Rothstein first reported the game on Friday, stating the schools were “finalizing an agreement.”
Each school has a unique contract with the event organizer. The Journal has reviewed only UNM’s contract. Among other details in the contract: Each school gets 15 hotel rooms and 75 game tickets. Big Ten officials will be assigned to the game. The Mountain West holds the rights to broadcast the game on TV.
UNM and UCLA have played four times prior with the series tied 2-2. UNM beat the No. 7 Bruins 65-60 in 1983; the Lobos won 77-66 in the Pit in the Preseason NIT in 1987; the Bruins, ranked No. 17,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/unm-lobos-add-hoops-game-030100310.html
Author : Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Publish date : 2024-06-01 03:01:00
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