This post was updated Nov. 17 at 12:45 p.m.
The Intuit Dome is just over a year old.
And Koa Peat and Donovan Dent – the two most premier talents gracing the new Inglewood arena – are both rookies in Tucson and Westwood, respectively.
But the UCLA vs. Arizona rivalry – a clash between two college basketball titans that features over 100 affairs and stretches back 103 years – is nothing new.
In the two former Pac-12 rivals’ latest bout, 16 turnovers and a late-game collapse led to No. 15 UCLA men’s basketball’s (3-1) 69-65 demise to No. 5 Arizona (4-0) Friday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. While five-star prospect Peat scored just seven points, guard Anthony Dell’Orso garnered 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and a 57.1% 3-point percentage.
“We didn’t execute down the stretch – they did. That was the story of the game,” said coach Mick Cronin. “On a bigger picture, we give up 60% from the field in the second half, they made 13 layups, so I don’t even know why we were winning, to be honest. … Our execution on offense down the stretch, lack thereof, got us. And on defense, we gave up layups. My teams don’t give up layups with the game on the line.”
Despite holding the lead for 14:32 of the first half – and limiting the Wildcats to a 37% field goal percentage – 12 turnovers and 13 first-half points from Dell’Orso off the bench prevented the Bruins from keeping their foot on the gas pedal and gaining separation from their opponent.
“We’ve got to get a lot better. We’ve got to get more production off our bench. That’s going to be a big area. Dell’Orso didn’t start, and he had 20. Their bench destroyed ours,” Cronin said. “We have got to develop our bench. We have got to get better on defense. We have got to get better on rebounding. That’s what I learned, but I knew all that coming in.”
The Wildcats’ lead – which they gained with 1:53 remaining in the first stanza – would not stay theirs for long as the Bruins would go on a 12-2 run that lasted 4:19, knocking down six of eight shot attempts. The run coincided with an Arizona scoring drought that lasted 2:59, giving UCLA the lead and lighting up the arena – visually and auditorily – in the process.
Senior guard Dent – the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year and an AP All-American honorable mention honoree last season – and senior forward Tyler Bilodeau, the Bruins’ leading scorer from last year, combined for just six first-half points, well below the pair’s 16-plus point per game average.
But after the intermission, the Bruins awoke.
Dent added nine points and five assists in the second half alone, illustrating not only his capacity to score but his ability to take over the game with more than just his shooting stroke. Dent picked apart the Wildcat defense with his north to south speed and lateral quickness, allowing him to hit seams at full acceleration and carve through the paint.
Attention directed at preventing Dent from lighting up the statsheet resulted in collapsing defenses and helping defenders, leaving Bruins open.
And UCLA did not let those opportunities go to waste.
Bilodeau and junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. combined for 32 points on 12-for-20 shooting from the field and a 66.7% 3-point percentage.
But what must go up, must come down.
And the Bruins fell hard late in the second half, allowing the Wildcats to take the lead with a run of seven unanswered points – ending when just 2:54 remained on the clock.
The nail in the coffin was a converted 3-pointer and a subsequent driving layup from guard Jaden Bradley, which put the Wildcats up four. With the shot clock expired, the Bruins were forced to foul and hang up their cape for a heroic effort.
The game proved UCLA did not have what it takes to fight with its back against the wall, pinned by a top-five opponent.
And self-inflicted wounds did not help the Bruins convert in the spotlight.
“We turned it over 12 times, sloppy with the ball. … Second half, we take care of the ball. We scored 40 points, and that’s with being abysmal late in the game in our last four or five possessions,” Cronin said.
Heading into the affair, Cronin said the Bruins had to be tough in order to leave the Clippers’ home arena successfully.
And the head honcho’s entourage made good on Cronin’s command, holding Peat to just seven points. Peat’s season-low point total comes less than two weeks after he dropped 30 points in his collegiate debut, making him the second Big 12 freshman in history to score 30-plus points in a debut game.
However, the Bruins were battered at the glass and lacked the Wildcats’ depth. Arizona outrebounded UCLA by seven and added 25 more points off the bench, ultimately leading to the Wildcats’ redemption from last season’s loss in Phoenix.
“Definitely just feel this and make sure we don’t feel like this again,” Dailey said on how he wants the team to respond. “Good thing is it’s early in the season. We got a lot of games left to play. We got a lot of things to build on as a team, just really learning and keeping moving. Take it one day at a time. We just have to keep fighting every day.”
