Bilodeau

SEATTLE — If there was such a thing as a must win in early December, this might have been it for UCLA.

The Bruins had fallen out of the national rankings and had no quality wins to their name after nearly a month of lifeless basketball.

They found a pulse Wednesday night thanks to a 2-3 zone, superb guard play and an incredibly hot stretch from Tyler Bilodeau in his return from a knee injury that had forced him to miss the previous two games.

BIlodeau delivered with 16 straight points for his team early in the second half while fighting his way through cramps that required frequent trips to the bench, the chugging of some pickle juice and the rubbing of his lower legs with a massage gun.

There was also the reemergence of Donovan Dent and a long-range heater from Skyy Clark, all combining to help the Bruins snare an essential 82-80 victory over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena in their Big Ten opener.

“We needed it bad,” Bilodeau said, “and everyone could feel it, coach was stressing it.”

It got more than a little scary late. Once down by 16 points, the Huskies pulled to within 78-77 with 36 seconds left after the Bruins’ defense sagged and their stall tactics resulted in one empty possession after another.

Washington’s Zoom Diallo was called for a questionable foul on Clark’s three-point attempt and Clark made all three free throws to provide a four-point cushion.

But Diallo got his revenge when he drove on Clark, making a layup in which he drew a foul. After Diallo made the resulting free throw, it was back to a one-point lead for the Bruins (6-2 overall, 1-0 Big Ten). The Huskies fouled Dent in the backcourt and the point guard who has been unsteady at the line this season made the first free throw before missing the second.

With a chance to win the game, Diallo dribbled furiously up the court before firing a three-pointer that was off the mark at the buzzer, allowing Dent to playfully grab Clark around the shoulders while they ran off the court in glee.

“This was like a must-win for us and we knew that, and we came in with that mindset,” Dent said.

Bilodeau scored 16 of his 21 points in a dazzling stretch of less than four minutes early in the second half, punishing smaller defenders who kept getting switched onto him.

“Donny and Skyy tonight played like real quarterbacks,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said, “so not only did they score but they got him the ball when we needed to get him the ball and we had the advantage.”

Clark finished with 25 points while making six of seven three-pointers and Dent added 17 points and eight assists with four turnovers in a return to form for the former honorable mention All-American at New Mexico who had struggled mightily in his first handful of games as a Bruin.

“I just saw Donovan Dent today,” Clark said. “He was just looking confident. He wasn’t second-guessing or nothing.”

Cronin revealed that Dent had been dealing with a series of injuries earlier in the season, not to mention self-imposed pressure from his inability to live up to expectations.

“He’s digging himself out with effort in practice,” Cronin said. “Coming home, with so much expected of him and then getting an oblique injury, at the same time gets a foot injury, gets off to a bad start and feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. It’s my job to help him through it — I told him that.”

Dent said his renewed confidence was a function of finding the right perspective.

“Really it was my mindset,” Dent said. “It wasn’t nothing mechanical, nothing like that. It was just me by myself, in my head. Over these eight days, the break [from games], my family, my close circle, they helped me a lot, so that was good.”

With the Bruins up by 16 points with less than five minutes left, it was almost hard to remember they had trailed the Huskies (5-3, 0-1) by 11 in the game’s early going while having no answers for Huskies forward Hannes Steinbach. They finally found one by going to the zone defense that has been a rarity under Cronin.

For a while it appeared as if Steinbach (29 points on 11-for-12 shooting to go with 10 rebounds) might outscore the Bruins all by himself in his return from a badly sprained ankle. Powering his way toward one easy basket after another, Steinbach scored the game’s first six points and made his first six shots.

Then the Huskies found considerable more difficulty solving UCLA’s zone, though Cronin lamented that his team still gave up 40 points in the paint and was seeking better rim protection from its centers.

“I’ve got to teach these guys,” Cronin said, “to block a shot or take a foul.”

What mattered most Wednesday was that the Bruins took a punch and fought back, stabilizing a wobbly season.