Across the last 20 or 25 years, Arizona has played made-for-TV November/December basketball games called the Mass Mutual Classic, the Battle in Seattle, the Lone Star Shootout, the Jimmy V Classic and the Armed Forces Classic. And a few more I’ve forgotten.
That’s probably because those early-season opponents, from Michigan and North Carolina to Texas and Gonzaga, don’t have the same clout and emotion UCLA supplies. That’s why Friday’s 69-65 victory over the Bruins in the Hall of Fame Series in some place called the Intuit Dome carries so much weight.
The Arizona-UCLA basketball rivalry is UA’s most compelling rivalry in any sport, with the exception of the Territorial Cup football game. The Bruins count, whether it’s in November or March. It’s never a throwaway, never a forgotten afternoon or evening.
From 1986-2018, I attended 29 UCLA-Arizona basketball games at Pauley Pavilion and still have distinct memories of most of them, detail by detail. There was no nickname for the series, but there should’ve been. Maybe “The Classic” or just “The Game.” Arizona went 13-16 in those games at Pauley, and when the Pac-12 fell apart two years ago, the first dread was that the Arizona-UCLA basketball series would dissolve and be left for the history books.
Fortunately, the school’s athletic directors and head coaches knew they couldn’t let it go. All of those haunting/and happy memories couldn’t be stowed in a media guide to gather dust.
Friday’s game in Inglewood was not at Pauley Pavilion, but it was close enough to awaken and stir those timeless memories. The outcome won’t mean anything in the standings. It’ll do little to alter the Top 25 polls in a four-month season, but it was one for the books. Jaden Bradley was as clutch as Sean Elliott in the 1986 league-championship-clinching win at Pauley. Anthony Dell’Orso brought back memories of 2017’s shocking 96-85 victory over the Bruins at Pauley, one that led to another Pac-12 title.
The road ahead for Tommy Lloyd’s club is almost intimidating, with road games against UConn, Alabama, BYU, Houston and Kansas. But rallying to beat the Bruins on Friday delivered an overflow of optimism and the feeling that the Wildcats will be ready for whatever lies ahead.
