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UCLA Basketball: The 2019 Maui Invitational matchups have been set

By Mike Regalado

26 Nov 1997: General view of a game ball during a game between the Missouri Tigers and the Kentucky Wildcats during the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii. Kentucky won the game 77-55. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw /Allsport
26 Nov 1997: General view of a game ball during a game between the Missouri Tigers and the Kentucky Wildcats during the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii. Kentucky won the game 77-55. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw /Allsport /
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The matchups for the Maui Invitational have been announced and the UCLA basketball team gets the preseason tounrament started against BYU.

Clear your calendar for Thanksgiving week UCLA basketball fans as the heat is going to be turned up in the midle fo the Pacific Ocean as the annual Hawaiian hoops hoedown known as the Maui Invitational will get going and as of Thursday, we now know the mathcups.

https://twitter.com/MauiInv/status/1149303667566080000

For months we have known who the participants will be but today it has finally been revealed what the field will look like and your UCLA Bruins will be taking on the BYU Cougars in the first round.

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The Maui invitational is always a very entertaining preseason tournament but lately, it has led to some rough results for UCLA. The last (and only) time UCLA has won the Maui Invitational was back in 2006 under Ben Howland.

This year, the Bruins will be under the guidance of new head coach Mick Cronin. If you aren’t familiar with the style of the new coach, Cronin is someone

that emphasizes defense, but he also prides himself on having a strong offensive game. Though he will be more stringent than former coach Steve Alford, Cronin ideally wants the Bruins to be one of the top scoring teams in the nation, which is a possibility considering all the talent he has on his roster.

The new Bruin head coach will be able to put all of that to the test on the island of Maui on the week of Monday, November 25.

As noted before, UCLA will take on BYU in the first round. The winner of that game will face the winner of the Kansas-Chaminade matchup while the losers of each contest will face each other in this non-elimination tournament.

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On the other side of the bracket, Georgia will face Dayton while Virginia Tech takes on Michigan State.