Instead of spending their entire weekend at a Manhattan Beach business hotel as they have done in recent conference trips to Southern California, the Wildcats opted to split up the weekend this time.
They stayed in downtown L.A., just three miles from Galen Center, on Wednesday night and until gametime Thursday. Then, after the USC game, they were scheduled to pull into an upscale Santa Monica hotel just a block from the Pacific Ocean.
While getting swept in L.A. last season might have prompted a change from the more superstitious coaches out there, UA basketball operations director Ryan Reynolds said the move was more about traffic and shaking up the routine.
By staying in Santa Monica, the Wildcats will be close to the Los Angeles Clippers’ westside practice facility, where they will practice Friday, and not too far from UCLA for Saturday’s game.
“It’s a little closer to UCLA, and it was time to try something new,” Reynolds said.
UA coach Sean Miller now has the Wildcats pack their bags for a new hotel immediately after every opening game of a two-game Pac-12 road trip, including short hops within the San Francisco Bay Area and Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
