The 1996–97 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team represented the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in the

1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1996 and concluded in the 64-team 1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, whose finals were held at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Arizona Wildcats ear ...

. Under new head coach, Steve Lavin, the Bruins began the season ranked 5th in the AP Poll, but after an overtime loss in the opener to Tulsa, the Bruins dropped and would not be ranked as high for the rest of the season. On January 18 the Bruins beat #6 Arizona, 84–78 in overtime. The team finished 1st in the conference. The Bruins competed in the

1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the champi ...

, losing to the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

in the Elite Eight. This was the first season for head coach

Steve Lavin Stephen Michael Lavin (born September 4, 1964) is an American college basketball coach and former broadcaster who is the head coach of the San Diego Toreros men's basketball team at the University of San Diego (USD). He previously served as head ...

, who had been an assistant coach under

Jim Harrick James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is an American former basketball coach. He was the head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Georgia over a combined total of 23 seasons. During the ...

Roster

Schedule

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament Source

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Ucla Bruins Men's Basketball Team

Ucla The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

UCLA Bruins men's basketball seasons

UCLA Bruins men's basketball The UCLA Bruins men's basketball program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in the sport of men's basketball as a member of the Big Ten Conference. Established in 1919, the program has won a record 11 NCAA Division I Men's B ...