Gonzaga and UCLA are keeping their annual dance going, and the next meeting now has a date and a stage.
The Bulldogs and Bruins will meet on Dec. 5, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, in the West Coast Hoops Showdown. It will be the seventh straight season the programs have played each other, and this one carries an extra layer of intrigue as Gonzaga continues its pursuit of former UCLA guard Donovan Dent.
The matchup extends a neutral-site run that began with games in Inglewood and Seattle over the last two seasons, with each team winning its designated “home” game. CBS’ Jon Rothstein reported before last year’s Seattle game that the series would continue, but UCLA made it official Wednesday.
The rivalry itself has plenty of history behind it. The teams’ connection goes back 20 years to the Sweet 16 game that saw Gonzaga cough up a 17-point lead in the final game of Adam Morrison’s college career.
Since that loss, the Zags have controlled the series. Gonzaga has gone 8-2 against UCLA in that span and 5-1 over the last six seasons, including several unforgettable postseason moments.
There was Jalen Suggs’ 37-foot buzzer-beater in the 2021 Final Four, the shot that pushed Gonzaga into its second national title game. There was the 83-63 Gonzaga win in Las Vegas in 2022-23.
There was Julian Strawther’s game-winning three that sent the Zags to the Elite Eight in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. And there was the 69-65 Gonzaga win in the Maui Invitational in November 2023 before the teams split their most recent two meetings.
UCLA’s roster looks different now. The Bruins lost Tyler Bilodeau, Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark from last season’s team, but they kept Trent Perry, Eric Dailey and Xavier Booker. They also added Texas Tech transfer Jaylen Petty, Auburn transfer Filip Jovic, Butler transfer guard “Stink” Robinson and freshman wing Joe Philon.
The biggest splash may have come earlier this month, when Mick Cronin landed a two-year commitment from 17-year-old Serbian wing Nikola Kusturica. He is widely viewed as one of the sport’s top prospects and a candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2028 NBA draft. Gonzaga also chased Kusturica, but UCLA beat out the Bulldogs, Kentucky and Michigan.
Dent’s situation remains one of the more unusual storylines in the sport. He spent his first three college seasons at New Mexico, then entered the transfer portal after winning Mountain West Player of the Year by averaging 20.4 points per game as a junior.
He chose UCLA over Gonzaga, and while he averaged 7.8 assists per game for the Bruins, his scoring dipped sharply. That led the 6-foot-2 guard to decide to retire from basketball after the season.
Now, though, recent injunctions granted to graduated seniors seeking a fifth year have opened the door again. Dent has pursued legal action of his own, and he could be eligible for one more season if a judge grants him and 44 other student-athletes an injunction.
That possibility, paired with Gonzaga’s need at point guard after Mario Saint-Supery’s surprise departure, has fueled the belief that Dent could wind up in Spokane this season. If that happens, the December meeting in Anaheim gets even juicier.
UCLA’s 2026-27 schedule also includes Purdue, Michigan State, Duke, LSU, Creighton and Kansas State, all of them known power conference opponents in the Bruins’ first season in the new-look Pac-12.
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