This post was updated Jan. 15 at 10:56 p.m.
It takes pressure to tip an evenly balanced scale.
But eventually, something has to give.
And Wednesday night, it was sophomore guard Trent Perry, who stole the show and tipped the scales in his favor.
UCLA men’s basketball (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) traded back-and-forth possessions with Penn State (9-8, 0-6), until a career-high 30 points on a 53.8% clip from Perry fueled the former to a 71-60 victory Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The loss kept the Nittany Lions winless in conference play, while the victory gave the Bruins back-to-back wins before finishing the away trip at Ohio State on Saturday.
“I was grateful for my teammates to trust in me and for my coaches to trust in me,” Perry said. “We came on the road, stayed together and found a way to get a win.”
The opening half offered little room to breathe.
Through the first 20 minutes, there were three ties and three lead changes as neither side could string together enough defensive stops to create distance.
That steadiness was tested early when senior guard Donovan Dent briefly left the floor early in the first half. After a forced turnover and what looked like a leg injury, the Bruins were forced to navigate a ten-minute stretch without their primary ball handler. Even then, the Bruins stayed within a possession, leaning on free throws to avoid slipping behind.
“Things happen over the course of a game,” Perry said. “With Skyy (Clark) being out, they told me, you’re playing with Donnie, he’s going to find you. Be aggressive.”
But the balance finally broke late in the half.
After Penn State tied the game at 21, UCLA seized control during a brief but decisive six-minute stretch where the Bruins entered intermission on a 12-2 run, forcing multiple turnovers and converting extra possessions while the Nittany Lions failed to ever score from the paint.
And even with the eventual return of Dent just minutes later, redshirt freshman guard Eric Freeny provided the spacing UCLA had been missing.
The guard knocked down the first two 3-pointers of his collegiate career during the closing stretch of the first half, turning the tide of the affair and forcing Penn State to defend wider than it had all night.
“Eric Freeny came in and hit two massive shots for us,” said head coach Mick Cronin. “Those shots gave us spacing when we were struggling to score, and that stretch was really important for us.”
But the lead the Bruins built would quickly start to unravel as the Nittany Lions wasted little time erasing the cushion.
Penn State opened the second half with increased pace, scoring on three of its first four possessions to trim the deficit to a single point within the opening two minutes of the second half.
But when it mattered most, Perry rose to the occasion, scoring 22 second-half points, fueled by four converted 3-pointers and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Perry’s scoring kept UCLA from slipping into empty possessions, with Dent continuing to struggle on the offensive side of the court, scoring zero points on 0-for-5 shooting from the field – his third single-digit scoring appearance in his last five games. However, Dent still proved to be vital to the Bruins’ offensive structure, garnering a team-high five assists.
“Donnie gutted it out,” Cronin said. “He didn’t have any turnovers when he came back and had five assists.”
The margin finally expanded when senior forward Tyler Bilodeau and Perry traded makes that Penn State could not match. Bilodeau finished with 21 points, supplying the half-court scoring UCLA needed when the pace sped up.
Bilodeau and Perry were the lone Bruins to reach double digits in scoring, with junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. joining Dent in his offensive struggles. While Dailey can lead the Bruins in scoring on any given night – averaging 10.9 per game – he has had his fair share of invisible nights, scoring just two points in 15 minutes Wednesday night, his sixth game this season with seven or fewer points and second with zero baskets made.
However, proficiency at the free-throw line proved to be critical.
UCLA finished a perfect 21-for-21 from the free-throw line, using trips to the charity stripe as insulation whenever the offense stalled.
While both teams struggled to generate separation from the floor late in the second half, the Bruins’ ability to convert on foul shots eliminated wasted possessions.
“I didn’t even know we hadn’t missed,” Perry said. “My teammates were just giving me confidence.”
Penn State continued to hunt for quick answers to find its first conference win, but UCLA’s late possessions stayed too composed.
Perry’s points came in multiple forms – 3-pointers and free throws and a late layup to reassert control – and the Bruins closed out the final minute without allowing the deficit to dip back into a single-possession game.
“When we get offensive rebounds, it brings energy to our team,” said redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II. “It keeps the other team on defense longer and gives us more opportunities to score.”
