On Sat, Feb 22, the UCLA Bruins hosted the Illinois Fighting Illini at Pauley Pavilion in what can be described as a must-win game for them following two straight blowout losses on the road against ranked teams. The team was a mess after a loss against Michigan State where Mick Cronin literally tossed Steven Jamerson II out of the game after a flagrant foul that he committed with a few minutes left on the clock. Cronin apologized to Jamerson and the team held a players-only meeting in realizing that they had to get back on the winning track. The Illini were 21-5 entering this game and had a fighting chance to contend for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament and had just beat the brakes off the USC Trojans on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Bruins needed a win over a ranked opponent in the worst possible way, as they only had one signature win on their tournament resumé in a Jan 20 victory over the then-fourth ranked Purdue Boilermakers in Westwood. Teetering on the edge of the tournament bubble, UCLA needed to improve its position in the Big Ten standings and had to show that it could get a win over a top-tiered opponent after so many missed opportunities throughout this season thus far. Along with an upcoming game against ninth-ranked Nebraska on Tues, Mar 3, this game against Illinois was one of the last chances for the Bruins to achieve a good win. Let’s see how it all played out.

The game started with a surge by the Illini, who went on a scoring spree that lasted six minutes as they scored 18 straight points. Making three-pointers at will, Illinois was in a good position early on as they held a 33-10 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. Cronin had to call two quick timeouts to stop the bleeding for the Bruins, who eventually woke up from their start of game hibernation. A combined team effort offensively got them to within single digits of the lead and a strong closing to the first half had UCLA down 50-43. The surprising player who did well in the half was Xavier Booker, who started out the game on the bench and came in to score 10 points. Other key contributors were Trent Perry and Donovan Dent, who were creating plenty of offensive chances and capitalizing off of them. The Illini had a good shooting first half from three-point range, making 10 of them. But in spite of scoring 33 points in the first 12 minutes of the game, Illinois gave up just as much in the final nine minutes of the half. The second half was certainly going to be a tight one.

The second half started with an 11-point deficit for the Bruins to overcome and they did very swiftly as Eric Dailey Jr made a couple of clutch threes and Skyy Clark(back from injury on Feb 14) made another three-point shot. Dailey made a breakaway dunk to tie the game at 56, forcing Illini coach Brad Underwood to call a timeout to get his team refocused. UCLA took its first lead of the game after a Booker layup and the contest became a tug-of-war from there. A lot of fouls were committed by both sides, leading to plenty of free throws. The foul trouble would loom large down the stretch for the Bruins. Skyy Clark picked up his fourth foul early on in the second half, while Dailey and Perry had three fouls each by the time the half reached the 10-minute mark. Dailey was the leading scorer in the second half, with 20 points overall for the game. The men of Westwood could barely push their lead up high enough and Illinois was sticking around in this game. Meanwhile, Dailey picked up his fourth foul with five and a half minutes left on the clock and had to get subbed out.

With a one-possession lead down the stretch, UCLA looked to hold off the Illini, who kept fighting back and eventually tied the game on a three-point shot made by forward Ben Humrichous. Tyler Bilodeau made a couple of free throws following a shooting foul with 44 seconds left on the clock, but Dailey picked up his fifth foul of the night on a shooting foul he committed against freshman phenom forward Keaton Wagler, who made both free throws to tie the game up. With 18 seconds left in regulation, the Bruins looked to end the game with a game-winning shot, but Donovan Dent missed a long three-point shot and time expired. This game was heading into an overtime period.

The Bruins looked to have more luck in extra time than they had three weeks ago when they lost in a double-overtime duel against the Indiana Hoosiers 98-97. Bilodeau made a three-pointer in response to a layup by Tomislav Ivisic to start out overtime. But making matters more complicated was that Clark picked up his fifth foul and was done for the night. Now without two of its starters for the game, UCLA had to find a way to squeak out this win. A dunk by Booker gave them the lead again following two made free throws from Wagler. A couple of more free throws were made by Illinois and after a couple of missed shots and a couple of quick timeouts from both sides, the Bruins got lucky when Humrichous got called for a foul on a driving layup attempt by Perry, who in turn made both free throws to change the lead again to 93-92 UCLA. On the following possession, Humrichous attempted a three-pointer and missed it, but Wagler got the offensive rebound and put the ball into the basket with five seconds left on the clock. Both teams called their final timeout of overtime and the Bruins needed to draw up a play that would have the ball get down the floor fast and a shot attempted for the win.

It was no easy feat, but history has a funny way of repeating itself. In a very fast fashion, the ball was inbounded and passed off to Donovan Dent, who dribbled the ball swiftly down the floor. With very little resistance, Dent jumped up in transition in the paint and went around Illinois center Zvonimir Ivisic(Tomislav’s brother). In a spectacular leap, Dent let the ball go up with very little time left on the clock and it went into the hoop as the buzzer sounded. The Bruins had won against Illinois in thrilling fashion. Dent was the hero, as the student section poured out onto the floor once again at Pauley Pavilion. An amazing and exhilarating win for UCLA men’s basketball, as their second win over a ranked opponent came in buzzer-beating fashion. A shot with some echoing similarities to a famous one made in the 1995 NCAA tournament for the Bruins as a point guard in Tyus Edney went all the way down the floor in a regional game in Boise, Idaho to make a game-winning layup over the Missouri Tigers on their way to a national championship banner. In a game with lower stakes, the transfer point guard from New Mexico and Southern California native Donovan Dent copied Edney in Westwood. The buzzer-beating layup on a Saturday night in Feb 2026 might have solidified UCLA’s spot in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

With six players in double-figures, including all of their starters, the Bruins were mighty over Illinois. In spite of a lot of offensive rebounds given up and second chance baskets, UCLA prevailed over the Illini, who had five players in double figures on an eight-man rotation. Dent had 14 points and 15 assists, with that last basket making up for two missed free throws in the game. Eric Dailey had a game-high 20 points, Bilodeau had a late offensive surge that netted him 18, Perry had a modest 17 points, and Xavier Booker had an amazing contribution of 16 points off the bench. Shooting over 50% from the field, UCLA benefited from poor three-point shooting in the second half and overtime from Illinois, who had 20 of its 40 rebounds come on the offensive glass. An amazing win nonetheless for the Bruins, who only have four regular season games remaining on their schedule.

Their next contest comes against USC, who was beaten by one point by the lowly Oregon Ducks. Hanging on the edge of tournament contention, the Trojans need as many wins as they can get and will have two opportunities to do so against their crosstown rivals. One last true road game in Big Ten territory will occur for UCLA when they made a trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who got an upset win over them at Pauley Pavilion last season that affected the seed that they received in the NCAA tournament. At least one more opportunity to win against a ranked opponent will occur as well for the Bruins, who host Nebraska(currently ranked number nine in the nation, but that could certainly change in a couple of weeks) on Senior Night. The Big Ten tournament is coming near and the men of Westwood have a chance to clinch a double-bye or triple-bye depending on what their conference record looks like and any tiebreakers with teams that either favor them or go against them. This thrilling ending over Illinois shows that this program has a lot of fight left in it and they can be worthy of not only getting into the Big Dance, but potentially making another deep run in it.