MINNEAPOLIS — UCLA’s Tyler Bilodeau poured in 32 points, two shy of his career high, and had eight rebounds while Donovan Dent tied his career high with 15 assists, but the Bruins fell 78-73 to Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
Bobby Durkin, Cade Tyson and Langston Reynolds combined to score 65 points to lead the Golden Gophers (14-15, 7-11 Big Ten Conference), who have won three of their last four, with their lone loss coming to No. 3 Michigan on Tuesday.
Dent (three points) and Trent Perry shot a combined one of 13 from the field in the loss.
UCLA (19-10, 11-7) led 41-40 at halftime and stretched its lead to 50-45 early in the second half when Eric Dailey, who finished with 18 points, dunked off an alley-oop pass from Dent.
The score was tied 61-61 when Bilodeau sank a short bank shot with 7:59 left to play, but Minnesota would rally to forge a 71-64 lead with 3:45 remaining in the game when Tyson scored six of the Golden Gophers’ 10 points on two baskets and two free throws.
The Bruins got no closer than three points the rest of the way. Bilodeau and Dent each missed three-point shots in the final minute that could have tied the score.
Durkin scored 23 points exclusively on his seven-of-11 shooting from beyond the three-point arc, before hitting a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to seal the win. Tyson and Reynolds each scored 21. Tyson shot eight of 12 from the field and three of five on three-pointers. Reynolds was eight-of-14 shooting to go with six assists.
Bilodeau shot 13 of 21 from the field while Dailey, who had six rebounds, made eight of 10 shots. Skyy Clark had 17 and five assists.
Up next: UCLA will host No. 12 Nebraska on Tuesday; Minnesota will face Indiana on the road on Wednesday.
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