Marquette Basketball: Golden Eagles and UCLA agree to home-and-home series

Marquette Basketball and UCLA, who have not met since 1964, will kick off a home-and-home series next December in Los Angeles.

Just days after UCLA bested Marquette Basketball for the five-star services of Class of 2020 point guard Daishen Nix, the Bruins and Golden Eagles agreed to a home-and-home series beginning next season at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 12. The exact 2021-22 return date to Milwaukee has not been determined.

Marquette is 0-2 against UCLA all-time, though those two previous meetings were in 1949 and 1964.

The Bruins are in a state of transition this year after losing their three leading scorers from 2018-19 and undergoing an offseason head coaching search that could charitably be described as tumultuous, but they should be on much more stable ground entering next year’s matchup with the Golden Eagles. UCLA eventually landed on Marquette’s old Big East nemesis Mick Cronin as its sideline general, and while Cronin does not exactly fit Los Angeles’ desired glitz and glamour, he does have a long history of regular-season success. Cronin’s Murray State and Cincinnati teams topped 22 wins in 11 of his 16 seasons, including nine in a row to end his Bearcats tenure.

With Nix ready to join the fold next summer and only one impact senior slated to depart this upcoming spring, Cronin could have the Bruins back on the basketball map in short order.

Marquette, meanwhile, will be losing four rotation players from this year’s unit, including star guard Markus Howard. Head coach Steve Wojciechowski is already building a foundation for the post-Howard era, landing two top-75 players in the 2020 class, Symir Torrence and Justin Lewis (Torrence has since reclassified to join the 2019 roster) and grabbing Utah State transfer Koby McEwen. Still, this may be an example of two ships passing in the night next season.

With college basketball’s constant roster churn, it’s impossible to know what the two programs will look like for the 2021-2022 matchup to Milwaukee. Will today’s role players – such as Marquette’s Brendan Bailey and UCLA’s Jules Bernard – progress into star seniors over the next three seasons? What recruits and transfers will join the fray over the coming years?

For the Golden Eagles, this is the second home-and-home series Wojo has now scheduled in his tenure. Marquette did not agree to a new home-and-home matchup during the first four years of his tenure, instead choosing to boost the non-conference schedule through the annual Wisconsin rivalry meeting, the Gavitt Games, and the traditional Thanksgiving tournament while the program found its footing following Buzz Williams’ exit.

But after inking a home-and-home with Kansas State last spring for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons to supplement those other high-major matchups, Wojciechowski is doubling down with this UCLA series.

It remains to be seen how the rest of the Golden Eagles’ future non-conference schedules will shake out, as UConn’s move back to the Big East shifts Marquette’s conference slate from 18 games to 20. Ideally, MU would be trading out two low-major buy games for the two additional Big East games, but that is almost certainly not going to happen.

Instead, one of the games that could be on the chopping block is Marquette’s now semi-traditional buy game against a quality mid-major school. This year, that team is North Dakota State, the projected Summit League favorite. In the past, it was Buffalo (2018), Vermont (2017), and Fresno State (2016), who all finished inside the top-100 in KenPom at the end of the season. Trading a Vermont meeting for a UConn game is one Marquette would make 10 times out of 10, but it will still be a bit disappointing to see those competitive mid-majors fall off the calendar.

Regardless, it’s a plus for Marquette, UCLA, and the sport of college basketball that teams are still willing to schedule tougher non-league games even as more and more conferences move to 20-game schedules. We’ll see if that trend continues as these bloated conference schedules become the norm, but for now, we can look forward to a fascinating game between top-tier basketball programs who rarely meet.