Entering Saturday, UCLA’s last two games had been lopsided losses to ranked teams. The Bruins managed something different against No. 10 Illinois.
Down 94-93 in overtime, UCLA point guard Donovan Dent went coast-to-coast for a buzzer beater to stun the Illini and put his program back in the win column. Even with the 7-foot-2 Zvonimir Ivisic waiting for him in the paint, Dent found the soft spot in the Illinois defense.
The game was shaping up as an Illinois blowout early, with the visitors taking a 33-10 lead in the first 11 minutes. As UCLA head coach Mick Cronin admitted after the game, the Bruins were rattled. He had a curious explanation for that:
“We did not run one thing we practiced the first 10 minutes, because we were rattled because they were making shots. I was worried before the game because everybody’s got all the answers behind the keyboard and these kids read all that stuff. I’m oblivious, but I didn’t like the look on their face before the game. It’s almost like they had lost confidence.”
That sure sounds like Cronin is blaming the furor over his ejecting of Steven Jamerson II from their previous game against No. 15 Michigan State for his team’s slow start. Cronin later apologized for the incident after a significant backlash.
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It’s also possible Cronin was just talking the Bruins’ run of games in general. UCLA lost to Michigan State 82-59 and got blown out 86-56 by No. 1 Michigan in the game before that. With four games left in the regular season, the program is squarely on the bubble.
What happened after that bad start will surely help. UCLA spent the rest of the first half sanding the deficit down to seven points, then had the game tied five minutes into the second half. A back-and-forth resulted in overtime, then Dent’s heroics.
Eric Dailey Jr. led the Bruins with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Dent had 14 points, 15 assists and 0 turnovers. All five UCLA starters scored in double digits, as did Xavier Booker off the bench.
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