PHOENIX — There was some comforting familiarity Saturday afternoon in a rivalry renewed amid unusual circumstances.
UCLA and Arizona engaged in another classic.
In a sequence that seemed as bizarre as the fan shown drinking a beer out of a shoe on the video board, the Bruins stormed back from what looked like certain defeat.
A flurry of Tyler Bilodeau baskets and two Skyy Clark free throws with 6.1 seconds left provided No. 24 UCLA with a stunning 57-54 victory inside the Footprint Center after the Bruins finished the game on a 21-5 run and held the Wildcats without a field goal over the final 8:46.
Just when it seemed as if the Wildcats were on their way to a runaway, leading by 13 points, the Bruins smartly kept putting the ball in the hands of Bilodeau, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half.
Bilodeau’s baseline jump hook capped a 15-1 run and gave the Bruins a 55-52 advantage with 1:42 left before Arizona’s K.J. Lewis made two free throws to shave the Wildcats’ deficit to a point.
Arizona got the ball back but the Bruins doubled teamed Trey Townsend in the corner and he lost the ball out of bounds for a turnover with 40 seconds left.
UCLA’s Dylan Andrews hoisted a three-pointer that was off the mark before Clark chased down the rebound and was fouled. Lewis’ three-pointer that could have tied the score wasn’t close and the Bruins (9-1) could celebrate an eighth consecutive victory that came in the most unlikely fashion.
It already felt like an alternate universe, UCLA playing Arizona on neither team’s home court as part of different conferences, when something even more bizarre unfolded early in the second half.
The Bruins looked like they had forgotten how to play basketball.
Committing one foul after another and repeatedly sending the Wildcats to the free-throw line while unable to generate any offense, the Bruins lost their mojo as Arizona (4-5) went on a 21-6 run that prompted Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd to flap his arms in celebration.
The game was technically considered at a neutral site, though basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy’s designating it as “semi-home” for Arizona only began to capture the essence of the scene.
Loud “U of A!” chants from a crowd awash in red first broke out in the latter part of the first half with the Wildcats in the midst of a big run. The volume level would only rise from there.
UCLA found itself in trouble only four minutes into the second half when Eric Dailey Jr., maybe the team’s best all-around player, picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench. It only got worse for the Bruins when they committed their seventh foul with 14:04 left, sending Arizona to the free-throw line on every foul for the rest of the game.