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 the momentum from a 69-67 upset of No. 4 Purdue four days earlier, UCLA’s first victory over a ranked opponent all season, 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.
The Bruins (14-6, 6-3) improved to 12-1 when leading at halftime. Bilodeau has scored at least 10 points in 15 of 17 games, totaling 20 or more seven times.
Saturday’s win coupled with Ohio State’s loss Friday at Michigan moved UCLA into seventh place. The Bruins would climb into a tie for fifth with Wisconsin should USC knock off the Badgers on Sunday in Madison.
UCLA was eight for eight from the floor during its 12-2 run over a three-minute span 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.
Bilodeau, who began the day ranked ninth in the Big Ten in scoring (18.2 points per game), 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 fifth-ranked Bruins beat No. 3 Arizona 75-59 on January 25, 2022, in their third year under Cronin.
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 played on their home floor—12 of those by Cronin’s squad.