Donovan Dent Does Tyus Edney Impression to Lead Bruins to 95-94 OT Win Over #10 Illinois
It was an amazing finish to a game which looked like it might be over by halftime.
Since 1995, Tyus Edney has been known in Westwood as “Mr. 4.8.” Now, this year’s Bruins have “Mr. 4.9” as Donovan Dent took the inbounds pass from Brandon Williams, deep in the opposing key. He then dribbled the length of the floor all the way to the basket and in as the buzzer sounded for a 95-94 overtime win over #10 Illinois.
Here’s video of the game-winner, courtesy of Fox:
But the late theatrics are hardly the only thing to discuss after UCLA’s second win over a Top Ten opponent this season.
The bigger story of this game is really the Bruins’ comeback.
For the first ten and a half minutes, UCLA looked like a dead team walking. They quickly fell behind 33-10 and it seemed like they were about to lose another game by more than 20 points.
Over the remainder of the first half, the Bruins whittled away at the Illinois lead. With 46 seconds left in the half, Dent pulled up for a jumper that cut the deficit to ten points, 50-40.
It looked like Illinois might score once more before the break before Eric Dailey, Jr. stole it with two seconds left. He got it over to Trent Perry who out up a three-pointer from the top of the key. The shot didn’t go, but Perry was fouled on the play, giving him three shots with 0.9 seconds left. Perry made all three and the Bruins went into the locker room down by just seven, 50-43.
The comeback continued in the second half. With 14:45 to go, Dailey went on a fast break and dunked it to tie the game for the first time since Illinois’ Keaton Wagler had put the Illini up 3-0 to start the game.
A pair of free throws by Wagler gave Illinois the lead again briefly until Tyler Bilodeau hit a jumper that tied the game again, 58-58.
On UCLA’s next possession, Dent missed a layup but Xavier Booker tipped the rebound in to give the Bruins their first lead of the game.
The game remained close, but, with 6:04 to go, a Dailey free throw put the Bruins up by five, 78-73. It was UCLA’s biggest lead of the game. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t get any bigger.
The Bruins continued to lead until Ben Humrichous tied the game, 84-84, for the Illini with a three with 1:13 left.
With 44 seconds left, Bilodeau made a pair of free throws to give UCLA a two-point edge. Dailey fouled Wagler with 19 seconds left to send the freshman to the line. He made both free throws and the regulation came to an end tied, 86-86.
As overtime began, Tomislav Ivisic gave Illinois a two-point edge, 88-86. That would be the largest lead by either team in overtime.
With 2:08 left, Ivisic hit two free throws to give the Illini a 92-91 lead. The next minute and 52 seconds were scoreless until Trent Perry went to the line for two. He made both and UCLA was up again, 93-92, but Wagler hit a jumper to put Illinois back up and the Bruins immediately called a timeout, leaving just 4.9 seconds on the clock.
That’s when Dent did his best impression of Edney, scoring as the clock ran out, to win the game for the Bruins.
After what can best be described as a tumultuous week, these Bruins showed the character and the desire to win tonight, and the win clearly proves that Cronin has not lost this team, after all.
In fact, tonight’s win may just have earned the Bruins a spot in the Big Dance.
Overall, Dailey led all scorers with 20 points and Bilodeau added 18. Trent Perry put up 17, playing all 45 minutes of this one, and Booker scored 16. But it was Dent’s performance which really stood out. Dent finished with 14 points and 15 assists for a double-double. Skyy Clark added 10 as well.
With four games remaining in the regular season, UCLA will face Southern Cal twice. The Bruins will host the Trojans at Pauley on Tuesday night before a quick trip to Minnesota next Saturday. Then, they return home a week from Tuesday to face Nebraska before closing out the regular season across town at the Galen Center two weeks from tonight. All of UCLA’s remaining games will be broadcast on FS1.
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!
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Once again, I am taking credit for the win, because I told Joe that I’m at a wedding (still am!) and that there probably wouldn’t be need for a postgame.
Evidently there were at least 2 "players only" meetings held last week prompted by Skyy, with ED, Bilo, Dent and Trent in support and making sure all attended.
In my athletic career, I had two teams (seasons) where "players only" meetings were called, one was a revolt against our coach/staff for a variety of reasons; the other was in support our coach because he was catching heat for our record and we took accountability for putting him in a bad spot. In both situations, those meetings unified our team despite their differing motivations; both resulted in strong finishes to those seasons, with one of them resulting in a playoff run. Taking ownership of our individual play, our love for the game and our respective commitments to “the guys in the room” changed the directions of those teams.
Let’s hope that no matter the reasons for the basketball team's meetings, that the bond forged therein, turned this collection of transfers with some talent into that steele-willed unit that refused to let past blowouts, bad press, coaching controversies or a 23-point deficit to the 10th ranked team in the country bury them. I'm looking forward to more consistent efforts like the one I saw tonight over the last 30 minutes of that 40 minute contest.