CHICAGO — When UCLA met Michigan State on its home court less than a month ago, it turned out to be an eye-opening nadir for the Bruins. The game was out of hand in minutes. At one point, they trailed the Spartans by more than 30. The night went so awry for UCLA that its coach, Mick Cronin, ejected one of his own players in the final minutes. “They took us to the woodshed,” Cronin said later.
But those Bruins would bear little resemblance to the seeming juggernaut that took the floor Friday, determined to show what they’ve learned since late February. The result was one of the best efforts of UCLA’s season, a wild 88-84 victory that sent the Bruins soaring into the Big Ten tournament semifinals, where they’ll face No. 7 seed Purdue on Saturday.
They did it with one of their best shooting performances of the season, shooting 56% from the floor. They hit 13 three-pointers, a season high. And they pulled it off without their top shooter in the lineup for most of the game, after Tyler Bilodeau left late in the first half with a knee injury.
The difference for UCLA once again proved to be point guard Donovan Dent. The night after he dropped the first triple-double in the tournament’s history, the senior star continued his late-season surge with 23 points, 12 assists and six rebounds.
And when Michigan State came roaring back in the second half, cutting the lead to just four with just 2:34 remaining, it was Dent who jumped in front of a pass from Michigan State’s Kur Teng, snagged the critical steal and hit two free throws.
UCLA would still need more to put away the Spartans. After Dent missed a free throw with 51 seconds left, Teng hit a three-pointer in the corner to cut the Bruins’ lead to two. This time, Trent Perry sank two more from the stripe.
Perry, who had 22 points, hit four more free throws in the final 12 seconds, all after taking a hard foul to the head. Dent would snag one last steal, his fourth, to seal the victory.
It was after the February loss to the Spartans that Dent’s season turned around. Since, he’s averaging 16 points, 10 assists and five rebounds per game.
The Bruins have followed his lead, having won five of six. The question now is whether they can keep riding this wave to a Big Ten tournament title.
It didn’t look like that would be the case after Thursday night, when UCLA shot a paltry 38% from the floor.
But after struggling on offense throughout Thursday night’s win over Rutgers, UCLA found its shooting stroke right away Friday. The Bruins hit 10 of their first 15 shots.
Both offenses were rolling at the start, with Michigan State matching UCLA, jumper for jumper. But turnovers forced by the Bruins’ suddenly stingy perimeter defense seem to turbo-charge them on the other end. Michigan State hit just four of its 15 shots the rest of the half, while UCLA refused to miss. Perry knocked down a three-pointer, then another. Skyy Clark made a tough jumper at the top of the key. Dent launched one from deep at the end of the shot clock, and it swished.
Everything was working smoothly for UCLA — until with 3:33 remaining, when leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau fell under the basket clutching his right knee. He laid on the court for a few minutes, before eventually being helped to the locker room. Bilodeau spent the entire second half on the bench.
Turns out, the Bruins wouldn’t need him as they rolled into the semifinals.
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