If the UCLA men’s basketball team hopes to make up ground in the Big Ten race, now is the time to do it.
Riding momentum from an upset of No. 4 Purdue four days earlier, UCLA’s first victory over a ranked opponent, the Bruins took a must-win approach into Saturday afternoon’s contest against Northwestern and won 71-64 at Pauley Pavilion.
It was the second straight win and fourth in five games for a squad in the middle of a six-game West Coast swing, with five games at home. The next four are against teams below them in the conference standings.
Tyler Bilodeau and Trent Perry each scored 18 points, Donovan Dent had 13 points and Eric Dailey Jr. had 11 points and eight rebounds. Bilodeau has at least 10 points in 16 of 18 games, totaling 20 or more seven times and helping pick up the scoring slack while guard Skyy Clark is sidelined by a hamstring injury.
The Bruins (14-6, 6-3) improved to 12-1 when leading at halftime. They outrebounded Northwestern 34-32 and prevented the Wildcats from making a field goal for almost 11 minutes in the second half, but losing the turnover battle (10 to 9) and struggling at the free-throw line (11 for 21) kept the score too close for coach Mick Cronin’s comfort.
“We had a little fatigue late,” Cronin said. “Guys are playing a lot of minutes … that we’re winning games in this conference without Skyy Clark says something. Nobody wants to be back more than him … we’re trying to hold down the fort until we can get him back.”
Saturday’s win coupled with Ohio State’s loss Friday at Michigan moved UCLA into seventh place. The Bruins would be tied with Wisconsin for sixth should USC knock off the Badgers on Sunday in Madison.
“I’ve put in a lot of work getting to my spots and executing,” Perry added. “Skyy’s advice to me has been to keep being aggressive.”
UCLA was eight for eight from the floor during its 18-7 run late in the first half, capped by a pull-up jumper by Perry that gave the Bruins a 14-point lead. They led 41-31 at halftime.
The Bruins will go for three in a row Wednesday at Oregon before returning to Westwood for games against Indiana, Rutgers and Washington. Wins in this stretch are critical since UCLA wraps up the regular season with four games against ranked teams (one against undefeated Nebraska) and two against rival USC. Only three of their remaining 11 are outside of the Pacific time zone.
“Eric Dailey’s physicality and defensive rebounding was a big, big key for us,” Cronin said. “If you don’t give up layups and dunks, you’ve got a chance to stop people. They only had 24 points in the paint.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau shoots over Northwestern’s Jake West in the second half. Bilodeau scored in double figures for the 15th time in 17 games.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Bilodeau, 10th in the Big Ten in scoring (18.2 points), had 16 in the first half and was four for four from three-point range. He hit the go-ahead three-pointer Tuesday to give UCLA its first victory over a top-five opponent since the then-No. 5 Bruins beat No. 3 Arizona 75-59 on Jan. 25, 2022, in their third year under Cronin.
“I had a good start but yes, we could’ve executed better at the end,” Bilodeau said. “This gives us confidence going forward. We have to build on these two home wins and clean up our rebounding and defensive mishaps.”
UCLA fans have yet to leave Pauley Pavilion disappointed this winter, as the men’s and women’s teams have combined to win all 21 games on their home floor—12 by Cronin’s squad.
Forward Nick Martinelli scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Wildcats (9-11, 1-8), who were riding high after shocking USC 74-68 on Wednesday at Galen Center for their first conference win. Tre Singleton added 12 for Northwestern, which was making its first appearance at Pauley Pavilion and fell to 1-7 against the Bruins.
“We struggled at the foul line and [Northwestern coach] Chris Collins made a great adjustment in the second half,” Cronin said. “We don’t have anyone to throw it into the post. We struggled with that today.”
Martinelli’s layup pulled the Wildcats to within 67-60 with 1:08 left, but Dailey was fouled with 35 seconds left and made both foul shots. Perry added a pair of free throws 11 seconds later to seal the deal.
“Nick is a talented player,” Cronin said. “You try to make him work for his shots. He played a lot of minutes as did a lot of our guys.”
