CHICAGO — His finest shooter had already been dominated out. Then, halfway via the primary half, his star level guard left for the locker room.
It was the type of worst-case state of affairs in the lead-up to March that UCLA coach Mick Cronin had in all probability solely thought of in his nightmares. But right here was Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA’s main scorer, dressed in an all-black sweatsuit on the bench, and right here was Donovan Dent, the Bruins’ ascending senior level guard, slumped in his chair a couple of seats down, a sleeve wrapped round his injured leg.
Both Bilodeau and Dent must be OK by subsequent week, a college spokesperson stated, when UCLA is predicted to draw a seventh or eighth seed in the NCAA match. Bilodeau’s damage was a minor knee sprain suffered in the win over Michigan State on Friday, whereas Dent suffered a minor calf pressure. In a pinch, Cronin stated the pair might have performed. Dent even stated after that he was “feeling good.”
Cronin in the end opted to maintain them out as a precaution, figuring out a Big Ten match title solely meant a lot. The lack of each in the end proved an excessive amount of for the Bruins to overcome in a 73-66 loss to Purdue.
It didn’t really feel like a good battle at first after halftime, when guard Fletcher Loyer pushed Purdue’s lead to 13 with back-to-back three-pointers. But the Bruins refused to again down. Slowly however certainly, they climbed again. By the six-minute mark, Skyy Clark stole a cross for a breakaway lay-in, then made a nook three on the following possession, reducing the Boilermakers’ lead to two factors.
“He can score at will when he wants to score,” Dent stated of Clark. “And when he’s in that zone, it’s very hard for teams to guard us. We need him in that zone the whole rest of March.”
UCLA’s Trent Perry, proper, and Steven Jamerson II, left, battle Purdue’s Jack Benter for a rebound throughout their Big Ten Conference semifinal sport Saturday.
(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
It would take extra than simply Clark’s clutchness to catch up. Sophomore guard Trent Perry pulled up from midrange quickly after to tie the rating at 60.
At one level, as UCLA continued threatening Purdue’s late lead, Cronin questioned how he would possibly area a staff for Sunday, had the Bruins managed to dispatch their semifinal opponent.
But they might by no means fairly pull into the lead. With each swing from UCLA, Purdue punched again tougher. Purdue’s 6-foot-11 middle, Oscar Cluff, proved an excessive amount of for the shorthanded Bruins down low. The mixed dimension of Cluff, who scored 17, and ahead Trey Kaufman-Renn made issues troublesome on the glass, the place Purdue piled up 37 rebounds to UCLA’s 26.
Cluff and Kaufman-Renn mixed for twenty-four boards, whereas the mixture of Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II that Cronin used at middle solely grabbed two.
“That’s where we got outplayed,” Cronin stated.
It’s additionally the place UCLA missed Bilodeau, its second-leading rebounder, essentially the most.
“Tyler would have had a hand in that,” stated Purdue coach Matt Painter. “He’s had some monster games for them this year.”
Losing Dent after that solely made issues tougher for a staff that had grown accustomed to his extraordinary playmaking over the previous month. Across two Big Ten match video games, Dent had accrued 35 factors, 24 assists and 12 rebounds.
Purdue had executed a greater job neutralizing the Bruins’ dynamic level guard than UCLA’s earlier two opponents, having held him to solely two factors in 10 minutes. Then, on the 9:36 mark in the primary half, Dent stated he stepped awkwardly and felt some ache. Team docs “didn’t like how it was looking.”
“Donny, he makes everything happen for us,” Clark stated. “But we have a lot of dudes who can do a lot of stuff.”
That was what Cronin hoped for Saturday. It would take some time for these different gamers to kick into gear. Not even 4 minutes into the sport, UCLA had already dug itself a 15-2 gap, whereas Purdue had already caught fireplace, hitting three of its first 4 makes an attempt from three-point vary.
The Bruins finally settled in, and the Boilermakers cooled down. Purdue missed their subsequent 9 pictures and went scoreless for six minutes. UCLA climbed all the best way again in a rush, tying the rating at 17. In the method, it misplaced Dent, who returned a number of minutes later carrying a white sleeve on his proper leg.
Instead of pushing the difficulty, Cronin put his belief in the remainder of his rotation. Clark had eight of his 10 factors in the second half. Guard Eric Freeny added eight of his personal, whereas Xavier Booker got here up large in the second half with seven factors. Eric Dailey Jr., in the meantime, reeled in seven second-half rebounds to end with 10 whereas scoring 11 factors.
It wasn’t sufficient. While UCLA misplaced each of its stars briefly Saturday — and in the end misplaced the sport — it leaves Chicago with its confidence swelling, nonetheless.
“We just proved we can compete with anybody,” Clark stated. “We’re missing arguably two of our best players, and we’re still running game with them.
“We grew up a lot this weekend. We’re gonna carry that into March.”
