The UCLA men’s basketball team secured a 71-60 victory over Penn State in a Big Ten road game at the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday. Trent Perry led the Bruins with a career-high 30 points, becoming the third UCLA player this season to score at least 30 points in a game, joining Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark. Bilodeau contributed 21 points in the win.
Perry scored 22 of his points in the second half, making four of eight attempts from three-point range and converting all 12 of his free throws. “Trent made some big shots,” said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “They’re a team that likes to double the posts and pack it in the paint, but I got him to a point where he’s not hesitating as an offensive player – I think that matters. It’s huge for him, just got to keep building. If you’re going to win games and go through a season, that’s our third different player to have 30-plus points in a game. Tyler and Skyy, and now Trent. It’s going to be different guys, you just going to have to keep grinding out. That’s conference play.”
UCLA held an advantage on rebounds, out-rebounding Penn State by 32-21 and collecting 11 offensive boards.
For Penn State (9-8 overall, 0-6 Big Ten), Dominick Stewart scored 16 points while Eli Rice added 14 and Josh Reed had 12. Ivan Juric finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
The Bruins were perfect from the free throw line (21-for-21), marking their best performance at the stripe since records began being kept regularly in the early 1970s. Previously, their best was a 13-for-13 showing against California on March 1, 1979.
UCLA maintained its lead throughout most of the contest after leading at halftime by six points (29-23). Penn State briefly took a two-point lead midway through the second half before Bilodeau responded with a three-pointer for UCLA; from there, UCLA did not trail again.
Key moments included Perry’s three-pointer at the eight-minute mark that extended UCLA’s lead to five points followed by another three-pointer from Bilodeau less than one minute later.
Other notable performances included Eric Freeny hitting two first-half three-pointers for UCLA and Steven Jamerson II contributing eight points and eight rebounds off perfect shooting from the field.
With this win, UCLA improves its record to 12-5 overall (4-2 Big Ten) as they prepare for their next matchup against Ohio State on Saturday at OSU’s Schottenstein Center. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.
After facing Ohio State on Saturday, UCLA will play five of its next six games at home inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom—including hosting No.5-ranked Purdue next Tuesday followed by Northwestern later that week.
Game notes indicate this is UCLA’s second consecutive win over Penn State after defeating them last year in Los Angeles.
