UCLA fades in loss to No. 20 Purdue, complicating path in the Big Ten tournament
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In a game that had a March feel, UCLA pushed through many of the shortcomings that might seem to consign this team to a short postseason.
Spotty guard play led to a turnover spree and a flurry of missed jump shots.
Coach Mick Cronin’s usage of Aday Mara that tends to hinge on the 7-foot-3 center’s success during his first few minutes resulted in another short stint after Mara struggled in the first half.
Even with so many things working against them, not to mention a determined opponent buoyed by one of the loudest arenas in the Big Ten, the Bruins found themselves leading Purdue by one point with less than eight minutes left Friday night.
That’s when what’s supposed to be the bedrock of UCLA’s success under Cronin fully abandoned it.
The Bruins are 8-0 this season when Aday Mara plays at least 15 minutes, a fact coach Mick Cronin is well aware of.
The Bruins couldn’t get defensive stops over the final minutes of a 76-66 loss to the No. 20 Boilermakers at Mackey Arena, continuing what might be the most troublesome trend for a team that once ranked among the best in the country in that department.
“I was never happy with us defensively,” Cronin said after a loss that essentially ended the Bruins’ hopes of a top-four finish in the Big Ten and an accompanying double-bye in the conference tournament. “Teams that are going to march on [in the NCAA tournament], they can defend for 40 minutes and we just couldn’t do it tonight.”
Any chance of a second consecutive road victory slipped away when the Bruins (20-9 overall, 11-7 Big Ten) found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-0 run that transformed their one-point lead into a double-digit deficit. Cronin was particularly peeved with his team’s porous post defense and inability to stop Purdue (20-9, 12-6) in the pick and roll.
Repeatedly beating whoever had the misfortune of trying to defend him, Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn made 11 of 15 shots on the way to 29 points. Guard Braden Smith was nearly as dangerous from long range, making six of 10 three-pointers while scoring 23 points to help the Boilermakers end a four-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, the Bruins kept shooting jump shots that were off the mark while the Boilermakers made their big run. UCLA missed six of seven shots before Mara buried a jump hook with 3:23 left. The Bruins went the final 2½ minutes without a field goal.
“It was a close game, we took a few iffy shots,” Cronin said, “but look, the bottom line was, we couldn’t stop them.”
Tyler Bilodeau finished with 15 points to go with seven rebounds and Sebastian Mack scored all 10 of his points in the first half for the Bruins, who shot 48% to the Boilermarkers’ 51.9%. UCLA outrebounded Purdue by eight but largely offset that margin by committing five more turnovers .
“They were a little more physical than us,” Bilodeau said.
For a while, it looked like UCLA might be conjuring more magic in its return to the spot on John R. Wooden Drive that sparked its 2021 run from the First Four to the Final Four, a statue of the “Indiana Rubber Man” outside the arena serving as a tribute to the former Boilermakers star and Bruins coach.
Having trailed by 10 and appearing on the verge of being blown out, UCLA surged into the lead shortly after halftime. Point guard Dylan Andrews drove and passed to Bilodeau for a layup and foul, the resulting three-point play giving the Bruins a 42-40 advantage.
Fans increasingly do not like how Mick Cronin behaves on the court, but they would be a lot more forgiving if UCLA was in position to end its championship drought.
The game’s start couldn’t have gone any worse for the Bruins.
On their first possession, guard Skyy Clark grabbed an offensive rebound before getting tied up for a turnover on the alternating possession. On their second, guard Kobe Johnson threw a bad pass that was stolen. On their third, a Clark pass was stolen. On their fourth, Johnson traveled.
Four possessions, four turnovers.
The Bruins kept things close by dominating the boards, their 10 offensive rebounds in the first half exceeding Purdue’s total of seven rebounds. But they couldn’t sustain their massive edge.
“The second half,” Bilodeau said, “we let up a little bit.”
Compounding his team’s problems, Mara played poorly in three first-half minutes and did not return until near the game’s end, Cronin keeping one of the Bruins’ biggest potential difference-makers off the court. Mara finished with six points and one rebound in only five minutes.
But a far bigger issue was the defense, which has gone from a constant to a question mark.
According to the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy, UCLA’s defensive efficiency now ranks No. 20 nationally, becoming all the less formidable when paired with an offense that ranks No. 50.
“This was a great opportunity against a hell of a team in a sold-out building that was going to try to will their team to victory because they were in desperate need of a win,” Cronin said. “If we could have overcome that tonight, it would have been monumental. And we played good for a long period of time, but even with that, our defense wasn’t what I wanted it to be and that’s the challenge, you know? That’s the challenge with us.
“There was a time when we were one of the top five defensive teams in the country.”
Now it’s something else entirely, making this feel like a season on the brink of a disappointing finish.
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