The UCLA men’s basketball team was defeated by No. 2-ranked Michigan, 86-56, in a Big Ten game at Crisler Center on Saturday afternoon. The matchup drew a crowd of 12,707 spectators.
UCLA (17-8 overall, 9-5 in the Big Ten) trailed by just two points at halftime, with Michigan leading 40-38. However, the Wolverines dominated the second half, outscoring UCLA by 46-18. Michigan (24-1 overall, 14-1 Big Ten) finished the game shooting 62 percent from the field and made 78.3 percent of their shots in the second half.
Trent Perry led UCLA with 14 points on five-of-nine shooting. Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau each contributed ten points; Bilodeau also had a team-high six rebounds.
For Michigan, Yaxel Lendeborg scored a team-best 17 points along with eight rebounds and two blocks. Morez Johnson Jr. added 15 points and three steals; L.J. Cason scored 13 points while Nimari Burnett finished with twelve.
“We were awful in the second half – we were god-awful,” said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “We missed eight unguarded threes. If you are going to come in here, you’ve got to score. We have some guys who won’t pass the ball and that is frustrating. That’s the worst second-half defensive field goal percentage of my career, in 23 years. They were 18 for 23, shot 78 percent, the worst of my career, and I don’t have to look it up – I can promise you that. It’s not like I forgot how to coach defense. Now, they are really good. But I would be really good, too, if I was shooting layups. I’d probably shoot a high percentage, now Yaxel hit a few shots, and he hasn’t shot it well in a while, so give him credit. We missed some wide-open shots. You’ve got to make double-digit threes to beat them.”
In the closing seconds of the first half—after trailing by as many as eleven—UCLA narrowed Michigan’s lead when Dent drove downcourt for a layup before halftime.
Michigan began the second half with a strong run—outscoring UCLA by twelve over seven-and-a-half minutes—which extended their lead to fourteen points at that stage of play.
A pair of free throws from Johnson Jr., midway through the second half helped increase Michigan’s advantage to twenty-one points; their lead grew to thirty late in regulation.
UCLA shot nearly fifty percent from the field during the first half but managed only about twenty-six percent after halftime due to Michigan’s defense.
The Bruins will next play against No.10-ranked Michigan State (20-5 overall), Tuesday night at Breslin Center in East Lansing at 5:30 p.m Pacific Time (8:30 p.m Eastern). The game will be broadcast live on Peacock and available via NBC Sports Network.
