On Tue, Jan 20, the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team played in a high-stakes game against the number-four ranked team in the most recent AP Top 25 poll in the Purdue Boilermakers, who nearly won the Division I national championship two years ago. After a few tough losses on the road in a four-out-of-five visiting stretch to Big Ten conference teams located thousands of miles away, the Bruins sought a bounce back win at Pauley Pavilion. After three previous losses to ranked opponents such as the University of Arizona(the current number one team in the country), Gonzaga(remains in the top tier of the rankings) and Iowa(opening Big Ten game in 2026 slate), the Bruins desperately needed a win to propel them to the positive side of the tournament qualification bubble. With Skyy Clark still out with a hamstring injury, UCLA needed their available stars to desperately step up to the plate following a weekend loss over Ohio State that featured 30 points from senior forward Tyler Bilodeau in a 12-point loss. Let’s see how this game turned out.

The Boilermakers, with their undefeated in-conference record of 7-0 and only one loss record on the season, got off to a good solid start to the game, leading 14-7 in the first six minutes. But the Bruins fought back with a couple of baskets from forward Xavier Booker and Bilodeau. However, Purdue went on a 13-3 run to push their lead up to 12 points, forcing Mick Cronin to call a timeout at the seven and a half minute mark of the first half. Following the timeout, UCLA made some important baskets in going on a 17-5 run to conclude the half with the score tied at 32 apiece. Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr made the bulk of the shots during that run and led the team in scoring at halftime.

The Bruins took a five-point lead to start out the second half, with Dent having six of the first nine points in the half. But the Boilermakers kept the score close and retook the lead at the 10-minute mark of the half. Both teams kept making baskets to stay within range and the trio of Dent, Dailey and Bilodeau kept UCLA in the game and in spite of being down six points with under two minutes left made some clutch shots. Dent made a three-pointer to cut the lead to three points and Dailey made a layup off a steal to go down by one point. Following a bad pass turnover by star Purdue guard Braden Smith, Cronin called a timeout and the Bruins executed a massively clutch play, in which Bilodeau shot a ball from behind the arc and it went in. Matt Painter called timeout as his team needed a two-pointer for the tie and a three for the win. Cronin called the final timeout of regulation for UCLA before the game-deciding play, which was a three-point shot by Boilermakers guard C.J Cox that bounced off the rim twice and the ball was rebounded by Booker to end the game.

The Bruins defeated the number-four team in the country and a rare thing happened at Pauley Pavilion, which was a “court storming” by the student section. Thankfully, it was a contained and chained-off storming as security personnel did a good job to wall off the happy fans in light blue and white from both teams, who were able to shake hands after the final whistle. The Bruins players then went over to celebrate with the chained-off students and they were escorted off the floor in a fast manner. A sight that is more chaotic and court-consuming in other parts of the nation was tamed and delightful in Westwood. The Nell and John Wooden Court saw its first court storming in eons and ironically it came after a victory against John Wooden’s alma mater in Purdue University.

It was the 13th win of the season for UCLA, which now holds a 5-3 record in Big Ten conference play. Donovan Dent was the leading scorer with 23 points and 13 assists for a double-double. Bilodeau scored 14 points(11 of them in the second half), and made four of his five baskets from three-point range. All of the scoring from the Bruins came from the starters, as they won without any scoring contributions from the bench players. In a losing effort, the Boilermakers had three of its players score in double-digits, as C.J Cox scored 16 points, Braden Smith had 12 points and Trey Kaufman-Renn knotted 10. In spite of the Boilermakers playing a road game against USC on Saturday while the Bruins were playing in Columbus against Ohio State, Mick Cronin’s squad prevailed over Purdue in the Pacific Time Zone after losing against them at Mackey Arena last year. For their next game, the men of Westwood will host Northwestern on Sat, Jan 24 before a road game against the Oregon Ducks next Wednesday. Then, a three-game homestand will occur at Pauley Pavilion heading into February as the Bruins play the Indiana Hoosiers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Washington Huskies over an eight-day stretch. Heading closer to the halfway mark of their conference schedule, UCLA men’s basketball is looking good and seeking to improve their position in the standings and overall ratings to gain a spot in March Madness for the fifth time in the past six seasons. This win over Purdue should be a positive resumé booster in pursuit of that goal.