Eric Dailey, Jr. Leads UCLA Three-Point Party as Bruins Beat Zags, 65-62

The win gives Mick Cronin his first win over Gonzaga in five tries.

Dec 29, 2024

Eric Dailey, Jr. hits one of the four threes he had today against Gonzaga. (Photo Credit: @UCLAMBB)

UCLA played another Saturday game which went down to the wire. Unlike last weekend, the Bruins finished this one the right way — with the W.

It almost didn’t happen that way, but they got a few breaks in the final thirty seconds.

Much like last week, UCLA led for most of the game.

Gonzaga’s Graham Ike made the first basket of the game just over a minute and a half into the game to give the Bulldogs the initial lead and Khalif Battle made it 4-0 with about 17 minutes to go in the half.

UCLA’s first bucket didn’t come for another minute, but when it did, Lazar Stefanovic nailed a three to cut the lead to just one. A two-pointer by Stefanovic would soon tie the game, 7-7, but the Zags retook the lead on a Braden Huff jumper with 11:43 to go in the half and Ike stretched it to four points with nine and a half to go.

Stefanovic hit another three to cut the lead back to one for the second time and Skyy Clark followed with one of his own to give the Bruins their first lead of the game, 13-11 with just under seven and a half minutes to left in the half.

After Ike tied it back up, Eric Dailey, Jr. joined UCLA’s three-point party and the Bruins were up again. Trent Perry kept UCLA’s party going with a three-point play of his own by making a jumper and adding the subsequent free throw. Not to be outdone, Tyler Bilodeau hit another Bruin three and UCLA led by nine with five and a half minutes to go.

With UCLA ahead 25-16, Dailey added a jumper to put the Bruins up by 11 with 4:02 to go. After that, UCLA went cold for the rest of the half while they allowed Gonzaga to score nine in a row to close out the half and the teams went to the locker rooms with the Bruins up by two, 27-25.

After the break, Ike scored the first points of the second half to tie the game at 27-27. But the Bruins went on an 8-0 run with a pair of threes from Kobe Johnson sandwiching a pair of free throws by Bilodeau.

But the Zags answered with seven consecutive points of their own to close the gap back to one, 35-34.

Following a Bilodeau jumper and an Ike three which tied the game at 37, Dailey hit another three with 14:33 left, and he followed with another just 41 seconds later, giving UCLA a 43-37 lead.

The Zags weren’t going to go away that easily. Ike cut the lead back to four and Ryan Nembhard hit a three to slice the lead to a point, 43-42.

With 12:22 left in the game, Nolan Hickman gave Gonzaga their first lead in over 15 minutes since it was 11-10, and the Bulldogs lead 45-43.

With 9:09 to go, Emmanuel Innocenti landed a three to stretch the lead to four, 49-45, matching Gonzaga’s biggest lead of the game.

After a bucket by Clark cut the lead back to two, Nembhard responded and it was 51-47. But, this time, Dailey hit the three for the Bruins to cut the lead back to a point with 6:55 left. Sebastian Mack tied it up at 51-51 just thirty seconds later.

Over the next two minutes, Ben Gregg and Nembhard re-established a four-point lead for Gonzaga and it was starting to look like time was running out for the Bruins.

Of course, though, if the Zags led by four, the Bruins cut the gap with three. This time, it was Kobe Johnson coming through to make it 55-54.

A pair of free throws from Gregg stretched it to three, but another Johnson trey tied the game at 57-57 with 3:24 left.

With 33 seconds left and Gonzaga ahead 60-58, Sebastian Mack went up for a jumper and was fouled. The ball went in and Mack made the subsequent free throw to put UCLA back in front for the first time in almost 12 minutes.

With 17 seconds left, Dusty Stromer shot a three which might have been the nail in the Bruins’ coffin, but he missed it, forcing the Zags to foul Clark who made both free throws and putting the Bruins up 63-60.

Mark Few called a timeout to set up a play with just 13 seconds left. Ryan Nembhard took the inbounds pass but soon threw it to Ike in the front court who dished it right back to Nembhard driving the lane. Meanwhile, Mack shuffled over and fouled Nembhard as he went up for the layup. The shot went in, setting up a potential game-tying free throw from Nembhard.

But he missed it.

Clark grabbed the rebound for the Bruins and was immediately fouled. He made both of his free throws to give UCLA a 65-62 lead with 5.5 seconds left.

Nembhard threw in the inbounds pass to Gregg who tossed it back to Nembhard.

When he took the pass from Gregg he was at the foul line with 4.8 seconds left. Clearly, Nembhard is not familiar with UCLA basketball history. If he were, he would have known that you can drive the whole court in just 3.8 seconds.

Instead, he shot the ball from just beyond half-court with 4 seconds left. He didn’t even hit the rim.

Clark grabbed the rebound for the Bruins and Mick Cronin had secured his first win over Mark Few and Gonzaga as the head coach at UCLA.

Overall, the Bruins shot 50% from behind the arc, making 12 of 24 three-point attempts. Comparitively, the Zags were just 7 of 24.

Dailey led the Bruins with 18 points while Johnson had 12, Clark had 11 and Stefanovic added 10. Ike led Gonzaga with 24 and Nembhard was the only other Zag in double figures with 16.

That wraps up 2024 and non-conference play for UCLA, who are off until they play at Nebraska next Saturday as the Bruins return to conference action.

Go Bruins!!!

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