The UCLA Bruins defeated future Big Ten conference opponent Northwestern tonight in the Second Round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, 68-63.

While Northwestern took the lead early on a Robbie Beran three-pointer, UCLA led for most of the game. Just 22 seconds later, Tyger Campbell hit the first two of his 12 free throws to pull the Bruins within a point and, 24 seconds later, Jaime Jaquez, Jr. hit a three to give UCLA a 5-3 lead.

After the Wildcats tied the game back up, Adem Bona put the Bruins back up with a dunk. UCLA led for the remainder of the first half. With 2:37 to go in the half, Amari Bailey gave the Bruins a 13-point lead before he followed up a Matthew Nicholson bucket for Northwestern with a three to push UCLA’s lead to 14, 33-19.

The Wildcats eventually cut the Bruin lead to ten points and the teams headed into the locker room with UCLA up, 35-25.

The first two minutes and one second of the second half saw the Bruins push their lead back to 13 points after another Amari Bailey basket which made it 41-28.

Then, the Wildcats began a 17-4 run that was capped Boo Buie’s first basket of the game to tie the game up, 45-45.

With 11:03 to go, Jaquez hit a jumper which gave the Bruins the lead for good 47-45, but Northwestern didn’t just roll over. They stayed close and even closed the gap to a point following a three by Buie.

As he has done so many times this season, Jaquez displayed his competitive greatness by nailing another jumper to increase UCLA’s lead to three, 53-50, with 7:35 to go.

In the final three minutes of the game, Tyger Campbell went to the free-throw line three times for six shots. The second time he went to the line, the score was 62-58, UCLA and, by hitting both shots, he sealed the game for the Bruins.

Triple J led all scorers with 24 points and he also led UCLA in rebounds with eight. Meanwhile, Bailey added 14 points and Campbell’s perfection from the line gave him all 12 of his points.

The Bruins will now head back to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas next weekend for the West Regionals where they will face the winner of tomorrow’s Gonzaga-TCU game. After Arkansas beat Kansas this afternoon, UCLA is now the favorite to win the West as the top remaining seed in the region.

DIMITRI COMMENTARY TIME!

Joe did a really good job of telling you how this game went up there, so I’m going to keep my stuff relatively short before getting to the three takeaways.

UCLA has officially completed all of my goals for them this year by making it to the Sweet Sixteen. That’s a huge accomplishment! If we’ve learned anything this past week, it’s that making it to the Sweet Sixteen is actually super-hard and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed if you lost to a 15 or a 16 seed. By the way, really looking forward to watching Arizona and Purdue play tomorrow!

But if there’s any major takeaway from this game for me, it’s that you can’t kill these Bruins. You can make a run, sure - Northwestern went on an impressive one in the second half, taking advantage of some defensive breakdowns and uncharacteristically-sloppy offense to erase a 13-point deficit. And you can keep things close down the stretch, absolutely. But to beat this team, you need a tremendous amount of talent and ability, and a whole lot of luck, to get a win. To be sure, Northwestern was a game opponent that did not go quietly into the night, but once Winning Time hit, I had an odd feeling of confidence that things would turn out ok.

Even a late injury to David Singleton was not enough to waver their resolve. Lesser teams would have been completely shaken watching one of their senior leaders have to be helped off the court after what appeared to be a horrific ankle injury, but Dylan Andrews, picked as the replacement shooter for Singleton’s free-throw attempts, calmly walked to the line and sank both shots. And then the Bruins followed that with excellent defense to seal the game. That’s a championship mentality if I’ve ever seen one, and the reason why UCLA has a chance in any game remaining in this tournament.

Oh, and Singleton was bouncing around after the game without a major limp and said he was fine, so maybe that luck is starting to turn.

Three Takeaways

1. Player of the Game: Dylan Andrews - For my money, no one had a more impactful game than Andrews. Inserted into the game early, Andrews played 15 minutes and only recorded five points, but he made his presence felt on the defensive end. UCLA made it a key to shut down Northwestern’s guard tandem of Boo Buie and Chase Audige, and struggled a bit when David Singleton was in the game. Andrews changed the complexion of the game completely, using his speed and athleticism to harass the two Wildcat guards and make their lives miserable, forcing multiple turnovers in the process. Andrews has developed nicely this season into a dependable bench piece, but his athleticism and defensive prowess might force Mick Cronin’s hand in regards to more playing time for the rest of the tournament.

2. UCLA Finally Gets Some Injury Luck - Adem Bona returned to the lineup in this game, which felt like an early admission from Mick Cronin that he did not want to take any chances on securing the win. Bona looked lost for stretches of the game, often trying too hard to make the highlight play instead of the right one on defense. But it got worse when he went up for a dunk and hung on the rim to avoid an undercutting Northwestern player, seemingly reaggravating his shoulder in the process. It looked really bad…until he came back in the game a few minutes later, playing fine and looking more in control than before. Similarly, David Singleton went down in the final minute with what looked like a horrific ankle injury…except he was walking around without any assistance in the handshake line, and was reportedly telling people that he is fine and that he simply rolled his ankle. UCLA has suffered perhaps the worst injury luck in the country these past few weeks, but (knock on wood) maybe things are finally turning around on that front.

3. Jaime Playing Like a National Player of the Year - In a weekend where so many potential NPotY candidates underwhelmed and saw their teams get eliminated, Jaime Jaquez came out and put the team on his proverbial back. 24 points on 11-19 shooting to go with eight rebounds and four assists is an insane stat line, made even more so by the strong defense he played throughout the game. There are times when I wish the offense would give more touches to Amari Bailey (who was sensational again in this game) but if Jaquez is going to play like this, then it’s hard to argue with the thought process.

   
   Go Bruins!!!

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