The UCLA men’s basketball team was defeated by No. 25 Iowa, 74-61, on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. This marks the Bruins’ first loss in Big Ten play this season, bringing their record to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in conference games.
Donovan Dent led UCLA with a season-high 25 points, his best performance since joining the Bruins. Dent also contributed five assists, four rebounds, and two steals while shooting 12-for-19 from the field. Tyler Bilodeau added 10 points as the only other Bruin in double figures, and Trent Perry scored seven points off the bench. UCLA shot 44.6 percent from the floor overall and improved to 50 percent shooting in the second half.
Despite trailing by as many as 24 points early in the second half and being down 40-22 at halftime, UCLA narrowed Iowa’s lead to just four points late in the game. However, they were unable to overtake Iowa or tie the score.
“We would have had a chance, as we got it to four, but we had some really dumb fouls, really bad fouls at half-court,” said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “There were four off the top of my head. When a team is struggling to score, the last thing you want to do is put them at the line. That was being told to the guys over and over, every dead ball and every timeout. Don’t foul, make them beat us. That was the whole thing at halftime. Keep the ball in front, let’s see how it goes. I think that our guys were too concerned about … [Bennett Stirtz] hit a couple threes in the first half. We get too spread out and we get beat off the dribble.”
Iowa (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) was led by Bennett Stirtz with 27 points on efficient shooting that included four three-pointers. Alvaro Folgueiras (13 points), Isaia Howard (11), and Tavion Banks (10) also reached double digits for Iowa. The Hawkeyes finished with a shooting percentage of nearly 47 percent from the field and made more than 84 percent of their free throws.
Dent sparked a significant run for UCLA early in the second half by scoring or assisting on all of his team’s first 14 points after halftime. The Bruins’ defense held Iowa without a field goal for more than eight minutes during this stretch.
UCLA will next face Wisconsin (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) on Tuesday, January 6 at Kohl Center in Madison.
