LAS VEGAS — Heartbreak city.

That was all announcer Gus Johnson could say the last time UCLA and Gonzaga met in the Sweet 16.

The No. 2-seeded Bruins had scored 11 straight points to close the game against the No. 3-seeded Bulldogs, including an improbable late-game comeback that miraculously put UCLA on top. On the other side, the country’s leading scorer Adam Morrison fell to the floor in tears – March Sadness at its finest.

On Thursday, 17 years later to the day, No. 2 seed UCLA men’s basketball (31-5, 18-2 Pac-12) and No. 3 seed Gonzaga (30-5, 14-2 WCC) will play under the exact same circumstances when they meet for a spot in the Elite Eight, this time in Las Vegas.

But while coach Mick Cronin admits he doesn’t know much about UCLA’s Sweet 16 win over Gonzaga in 2006 – 13 years before he was even hired in Westwood – he does remember the last time the Bruins and Bulldogs went head to head in the NCAA Tournament.

Two years ago, UCLA and Gonzaga met in the Final Four – the former a scrappy underdog that had clawed its way from the First Four to the Final Four, and the latter a No. 1 seed title-favorite that had yet to lose a game that season.

Johnny Juzang had followed his miss with a layup to knot the teams at 90 apiece with seconds left in overtime, but Jalen Suggs had other plans, drilling a bank shot from near half court at the buzzer. Heartbreak city once again, this time for the Bruins.

[Related: UCLA men’s basketball finishes run in Final Four with last-second loss to Gonzaga]

He may have studied 44-plus minutes of that overtime thriller, but Cronin always hits pause before the shot leaves Suggs’ hands.

“What the hell do I need to watch that for?” Cronin said. “You think I’m a masochist?”

They may not be conference foes or dueling blue bloods, but UCLA and Gonzaga have formed somewhat of a rivalry in recent years. The two met in Las Vegas just last season in a one-off game in November 2021, a contest in which the Bulldogs dominated en route to a 20-point win.

[Related: Men’s basketball fails to recover from early deficit, falls to Gonzaga by 20 points]

And on Thursday, they will battle for the third time in three seasons, boasting familiar faces on both sides.

In an era of college basketball in which players constantly trade in one school’s jersey for another or leave for the professional ranks, Cronin said continuity plays a significant role in the success of both teams.

“There’s a reason why we’ve got a lot of wins: over 60 combined between us,” Cronin said.

Senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. is one of five current Bruins who played in that 2021 NCAA Tournament matchup, along with redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell and fifth-year guard David Singleton.

But Campbell said Thursday’s matchup won’t resemble the previous two.

“It’s hard to compare a game from a year ago or even when we played them before that because we have a whole new team. They have a whole new team,” Campbell said.

Jaquez played 40 minutes in that contest, while Campbell chipped in 36, and Singleton played 31 minutes off the bench.

That trio now makes up three-fifths of UCLA’s starting lineup, while just two pieces of that 2021 Gonzaga rotation are still on the Bulldogs’ roster.

“They have the luxury now of being the older, more experienced team,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few.

But just like they were two years ago, the Bulldogs are led by forward Drew Timme. After dropping 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting against UCLA in that Final Four matchup, Timme is once again the catalyst of the best offense in the country.

UCLA could be without one of its top defensive options against Timme in freshman forward Adem Bona, although Bona played in the Bruins’ Round of 32 win after missing two straight games with an injury sustained in the Pac-12 tournament.

“Somehow, we’ve got to find a way to contain Drew Timme and not give up a lot of 3s, regardless who plays for us, because we’ve got some guys day-to-day,” Cronin said.

Singleton also went down with an injury in UCLA’s second-round win but is expected to play Thursday.

“If it doesn’t go our way, I’m not going to come in here and say we lost because these two guys weren’t playing or these three guys weren’t playing,” Cronin said. “We’re still going to get to play 5-on-5.”

Regardless of who takes the floor, UCLA will have the chance to rekindle its magic from 2006 with tipoff at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday.