Postgame Talk: UCLA Stages Furious Comeback But Falls to Indiana in 2OT, 98-97

A controversial out of bounds call gave the Hoosiers a chance to win the game.

Donovan Dent and Mick Cronin (Photo credit: @UCLAMBB)

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There are so many things you can talk about after this game, and I’m not sure where to start.

UCLA played a solid first half of basketball, only to completely collapse in the second half. The Bruins generated plenty of good looks at the basket but failed to convert, at one point missing 11 straight shots from the field. It allowed Indiana to build a 10-point lead, one that they held with 1:50 remaining in the game.

Then UCLA staged a comeback for the ages, cutting the lead to four with 50 seconds remaining and forcing Indiana into multiple turnovers just trying to get the ball across the court. With eight seconds remaining, Indiana post Reed Bailey missed his first free-throw of the night, which allowed UCLA to bring the ball up the court and have Trent Perry hit a game-tying three-pointer with two seconds remaining (it should be noted that Indiana chose not to foul up three and got burned for it, which felt like karmic payback for all the times that has killed the Bruins under Cronin).

Then overtime came, and both teams dealt with heavy legs after long minutes. UCLA was able to execute in the halfcourt well, but they could not find any answer for Lamar Wilkerson on the end. Wilkerson continually blew past Perry defensively, scoring 10 points in the overtime period alone and constantly hitting big shots when Indiana needed it. UCLA had a chance to win the game in the first OT, but Perry’s floater came up short.

In the second OT, the game devolved into a rock fight, with a bevy of foul calls leading to an excessive amount of free throws for both teams. There were 26 free throws in the OT periods, a full 36% of the total free throws in the game, and an indictment of an officiating crew that continually made poor choices with how they chose to call the game.

Which gets into the ending. Indiana had the ball under 10 seconds to go and drove into the lane, missing a wild layup attempt and watching the ball careen out of bounds. The initial call was that the ball remained with Indiana, although video replay made it much clearer that the ball went off of Indiana’s Trent Sisley. Despite that evidence, the officials decided there was no conclusive video evidence to change the call, and on the ensuing inbounds, Donovan Dent got beat to the basket and fouled Sisley with 0.3 seconds remaining. Sisley made a free throw, and that was the game.

The officiating at the end of this game is going to hang over this one and color opinions regarding what happened. I would note my feeling that UCLA gets a worse home whistle than anyone else in the conference, and while you would hope that could switch at some point, the fact is that UCLA was again killed by a 50/50 call that went against them late. I’m writing this without hearing Mick Cronin’s postgame, but this feels like a game he should risk a fine with by calling out the officials by name and demanding the Big Ten improve in this regard.

…but at the same time, UCLA was lucky to even be in that spot to begin with.

Again, I have to remind everyone that the Bruins disappeared in the second half, in large part due to a miserable shooting half. UCLA generated plenty of good, open looks at the basket, but the players failed to convert shots that they normally make. On the flip side, Indiana started hitting everything under the sun, no matter how good UCLA was at defending. Nick Dorn hit a three-pointer with Jamar Brown draped all over him with 1:50 remaining that felt like a dagger, but he wasn’t alone in that regard. In what felt like a must-win game to keep UCLA safely off the bubble, it was a disappointing performance for so many Bruins, starting with Donovan Dent, who again reverted to a point guard who looks unsure. Dent finished with 24 points and 11 assists, but he was also a miserable 8-23 from the field, missing a bevy of shots that you would expect a player being paid $3 million to make.

Eric Dailey was again the bad version of what he can be, finishing with 15 points but only six rebounds. Xavier Booker took a huge step backwards on the defensive end, and only played as many minutes as he did because Steven Jamerson picked up two fouls in a minute of play and showed he was again not ready to be on the court. Throw in Jamar Brown hitting only one of his six shots, and you have a pretty good example of how Cronin’s failures at the 3 and 5 have directly led to a disappointing season.

The biggest bright spot in this game was Trent Perry, who led the Bruins with 25 points. Perry truly has flourished with Skyy Clark out, looking much more confident in his ability and showing that he can handle heavy minutes. His defense was rather poor, and so much of Indiana’s success in the OT period came from attacking him on that end, but that is something that can be developed with time (it also didn’t help that both Perry and Dent were exhausted thanks to a lack of rest). Tyler Bilodeau also had a solid game before the officials legislated him out of overtime with two terrible offensive foul calls.

I’m willing to say this will go down as one of the most frustrating teams in modern UCLA history. The Bruins have shown they can hang with some of the best teams in the country, as the Arizona, Gonzaga, and Purdue games proved, but they’ve also shown they lack the drive to perform at a high level for an entire game. The loss of Skyy Clark for an extended period is going to loom as a big “what-if” long into the offseason, but the biggest question is why this team struggles to play with effort for an entire game.

Those are questions for a long offseason, though. For now, the question will be whether UCLA can actually play to its potential on a more consistent basis.

Go Bruins.

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