On Sat, Feb 7, 2026, the UCLA Bruins hosted the Washington Huskies in a Saturday night game that concluded a six-game stretch of the team playing in the Pacific Time Zone in Big Ten Conference play. The Bruins had won four of their first five games in this stretch, with the only loss being a double-overtime defeat against the Indiana Hoosiers on Sat, Jan 31. Coming off a blowout win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, UCLA played host to an old conference foe from the dissolved version of the PAC-12 in Washington, who was 12-11 in the 2025-26 season entering this game. The first matchup between these two teams occurred two months earlier with the Bruins barely surviving in Seattle with an 82-80 victory over the Huskies, who had a game-winning shot attempt from half court miss. Now in this rematch, both teams had a lot to play for in terms of conference standings positioning and their chances of getting into the NCAA tournament as they both hovered around the bubble entering this one.

The game started with a hot offensive start, as the Huskies gained an early lead due to 12 quick points by forward Wesley Yates III. Donovan Dent countered with some early points, but the Bruins were sloppy in the first half when it came to turnovers and missed shots. Washington gained an eight-point lead, but shortly after UCLA went on a good run that awarded them with their first lead of the game. Dent was a big part of that run, but the Huskies regained control and would lead by four points at the half. Dent and Yates were the leading scorers in the game and there needed to be some more work done from the other players on both sides in the second half. This game was going to be a tight one, in spite of the Bruins being heavily favored on their home floor.

The second half came and Mick Cronin made some shakeups to the starting lineup in opting to have Xavier Booker and Eric Dailey Jr start the period on the bench. A couple of three-pointers were made by Tyler Bilodeau in the first few minutes of the half while the big men for the Huskies provided some early scoring. Dailey came in and made a three-pointer to tie the game at 45 and the tie was broken on a Dent layup off a backcourt turnover. But foul trouble was brewing as Bilodeau and Booker each picked up their third foul with a lot of time left in regulation. The players on the floor would have to step up without Bilodeau’s presence as both him and Booker eventually picked up their fourth fouls. Cronin became furious and was called for a technical foul by the referees. With the foul count for the Bruins rising, things were not looking good as Washington was in the bonus and only down by one point. But both technical free throws by Zoom Diallo were missed and momentum stayed on the home team’s side. A couple of big three-pointers made by Trent Perry gave UCLA a six-point lead with over seven minutes left to play. But a couple of quick baskets by the Huskies kept the score close and forced Cronin to call a timeout with five and a half minutes left on the clock.

A risky move was made as both Bilodeau and Booker came back in with their four fouls. After a couple of inefficient possessions, Bilodeau made a huge basket that came with a foul and he completed the three-point play. Following a coach’s challenge by the Huskies(their second of the game) that was successful, the game went into its final stretch. A good turnaround basket was made by Dailey to push the Bruins’ lead to seven points with three minutes left. It went up to a game-high nine points on a layup by Dent with over a minute and a half left to play. It seemed that UCLA had this game all wrapped up, but Washington wasn’t going to surrender so easily. A quick dunk by Bryson Tucker occurred and Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle took his team’s first timeout of the half. With the Bruins in the bonus, Washington fouled Perry in the backcourt and he made both free throws. A three-pointer was made by Quimari Peterson on the other end to cut the deficit to six points. The Bruins were forced to call their final timeout of regulation with over a minute left. Bilodeau got fouled and he made the first free throw, but missed the second one. A swift three was made by Peterson on the other end and just like that, the Huskies were only down by four. After another timeout called by Sprinkle, Dent got fouled and he missed the first free throw, but made the second. The lead was only five points when Peterson made a layup with 38 seconds left. With the deficit at three points, Washington could have easily let the next offensive possession for UCLA play out, but instead Hannes Steinbach fouled Perry in the backcourt. Perry took advantage of that mishap by making both free throws, but on the next Huskies possession Yates scored on an offensive rebound and a foul was called on Brandon Williams on the shot. The free throw was made by Yates and Washington was only down by a deuce. After the inbounds pass, Dailey got fouled and he made both free throws on the other end. A swift layup by Yates led to Sprinkle calling his team’s final timeout. Perry got fouled again and he made both free throws to re-increase the lead to four points and on the last-chance possession for the Huskies, Peterson missed a three-pointer and the ball went out of bounds with possession favoring the Bruins. It was game over.

UCLA barely prevailed 77-73 over Washington in a grinder of a game to conclude a three-game homestand. In an intense and physical contest, the Bruins came up on top over the frisky Huskies, who put up a valiant effort but came up a little short. The leading scorer in the game was Trent Perry, who had 23 points and made 10 of his 11 free throws, including many of them down the stretch. Tyler Bilodeau scored 19 points in spite of his foul trouble and him and Perry each made a trio of three-point shots. Donovan Dent had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists along with grabbing six rebounds. Eric Dailey had 14 points and five rebounds along with making a pair of three-point baskets. The quartet of Perry, Bilodeau, Dent and Dailey had a combined 73 points between them and that matched the exact scoring total from the Huskies. It was a good thing that Jamar Brown made a basket in the first half and Brandon Williams and Xavier Booker each made a free throw. Every point made a world of difference in this game. Meanwhile, the leading scorer for the defeated Washington side was Wesley Yates, who scored 21 points but most of that scoring was done early in the first half. Hannes Steinbach tallied 13 points and 7 rebounds as a star freshman out of Germany. Quimari Peterson and Lathan Sommerville scored a combined 22 points off the bench to keep the Huskies in the contest, but in the end they were beaten and fell to a mediocre 12-12 record on the season.

The Bruins are now 17-7 as they enter a weeklong stretch without playing a game. There is a tough path ahead however as the Men of Westwood will make a trip to the Great Lakes State to take on the second-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Valentines Day and then a few nights later head to East Lansing to take on the currently tenth-ranked Michigan State Spartans. When they return home, UCLA will host a lethally good Illinois team currently holding the position of being the fifth-ranked team in the AP Top 25. A pair of games against crosstown rival USC will be offset by a road trip up north to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers and a Senior Night duel against the ninth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. The next few weeks will test the mettle of this 2025-26 Bruins men’s basketball team as they continue to await the return of Skyy Clark as a hard stretch of hardwood games await them. But for now, they are in a good spot in the Big Ten standings and in their outlook for making it into the Big Dance in March.