27 feet, 1.1 seconds left.
Donovan Dent found an open Trent Perry.
Perry rose and fired.
A Hail Mary.
After trailing by 10 with 1:50 remaining in regulation, six with 43 seconds left and four with 25 seconds left, sophomore guard Trent Perry nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to send the game to overtime.
But what was once a prayer became a nightmare, as a free throw from Hoosiers forward Trent Sisley with .3 seconds left of double-overtime sealed the Bruins fate.
Ending its unbeaten home record and three-game winning streak, Indiana (15-7, 6-5 Big Ten) vanquished UCLA men’s basketball (15-7, 7-4) 98-97 on Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion in double-overtime. The Bruins and Hoosiers were tied at 97-97 before an Indiana out-of-bounds play under the UCLA basket – a possession call coach Mick Cronin challenged and lost – found an open Sisley for the nail in the coffin.
“The defense was awful all night. We deserved to lose. We went through a stretch where we were pouting, and letting one shot affect the next shot,” said Cronin. “We couldn’t score for a long time, that’s how we got down 10, missing wide-open shot after wide-open shot, because we act like somebody stole our favorite toy and we’re a three-year-old.”
After an abysmal offensive second half – one that featured a 23.8% field goal percentage, including eight consecutive missed shots and just five successful 3-pointers – the Bruins forced four consecutive second-chance free throws and layups in an attempt to save the game.
And UCLA’s last-ditch effort proved sufficient as a missed free throw from Hoosier forward Reed Bailey gave the Bruins the chance to tie it, and Perry did not let the opportunity go to waste, sinking a deep heave to send the affair to overtime.
Despite a 21-point performance from Indiana guard Nick Dorn in the second half alone, UCLA’s man-to-man defense in the dying embers of periods and late offensive execution fueled a double-overtime push that featured 11 ties and 13 lead changes.
“Nick Dorn, he had some pretty big shots. Even though he went 6-for-15, he still hit some big shots. He got hot,” Perry said. “We just had to talk a little bit better, but we can’t be shooting like that in those moments.”
Perry had his chance again at the end of the first overtime period on a baseline floater but missed short. Despite the missed game-winner, Perry played savior the entire affair, leading the team with 25 points, with seven points and three rebounds coming in overtime alone.
But Perry was not alone.
His backcourt partner, senior guard Donovan Dent, put together a double-double affair, garnering 24 points and 11 assists to go along with six rebounds. Dent was particularly imperative late in the contest, scoring seven and notching three assists.
“It’s huge, we rally back down late in the first and second half. That builds up our confidence as a team, like we know when to fight back,” Dent said. “It gives you confidence for the next one, but it sucks to be on the bad side of this.”
While Dent and Perry cooked on the hardwood in overtime, senior forward Tyler Bilodeau rode the pine. After scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in regulation, he logged just one point and three fouls in overtime, leaving the game with five fouls with 4:24 remaining in the second overtime period.
Junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. mirrored Bilodeau’s game progression, scoring 11 points and five rebounds in regulation, but hiding in the shadows in overtime, tallying just four points and grabbing one rebound while fouling three times.
While UCLA fought to the end, it ultimately struggled because of the hole the team dug itself in in the second half.
Indiana entered the Saturday affair ranked No. 24 nationally in 3-pointers attempted, and while the squad rarely sustained rhythm from deep in the opening half, the floodgates opened in the second frame, knocking down six of their 16 second-half long-range attempts.
Cronin acknowledged Friday that the Hoosiers are a lethal 3-point shooting team and that if the Bruins were to maintain their defensive tenacity, they would have to follow the game plan.
“Three things I would tell you about Indiana because we’re all paranoid as coaches. They’re a great shooting team,” Cronin said. “They have three of the best shooters in the country, not the Big Ten – Wilkerson (guard Lamar Wilkerson) , Dorn (guard Nick Dorn) and Tucker (forward Tucker DeVries).”
And for the most part, the Bruins succeeded, holding DeVries and Wilkerson – the team’s top two overall scorers – to just 19 combined points in regulation, despite the pair averaging 14.3 and 19.4, respectively.
But the Bruins allowed the Hoosiers’ depth to shine.
Dorn garnered 26 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc, while Bailey scored 24 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field and 12-for-13 from the charity stripe. The tandem entered the contest averaging just 8.8 and 9.3 points per game, respectively.
The Bruins failed to emulate the Hoosiers’ hot-handed shooting, as they managed just a 39.5% clip from the field and 7-for-22 shooting from beyond the arc.
“I always say the same thing no matter what. Just worry about defense, rebounding and effort,” Cronin said. “Unlike everybody else, I don’t even talk to them about whether shots go in. Defense, rebounding effort, execution. There is no magic potion on shooting.”
Momentum was split between the two halves, shifting most noticeably early through runs on both sides of the court rather than single makes. Indiana briefly erased an early deficit with consecutive jumpers and Bailey’s perfect first-half start.
But minutes later, the Bruins responded with a 9-0 first-half stretch of their own.
Sparked by a range of mid-range jumpers and capped by a 3-pointer from redshirt sophomore guard/forward Brandon Williams, UCLA pushed the margin back towards double digits – the third multi-score surge in the series of swells.
That early control would slowly begin to loosen.
After intermission, UCLA’s defense gave way to missed screens and late cuts, forfeiting five defensive rebounds in the opening six minutes of the second half.
While the Bruins first-half offense was more composed, Cronin’s squad began to struggle on both ends of the court – shooting 34.3% from the field – while the Hoosiers’ margin only grew.
And despite UCLA coming back in a game that many thought was over and forcing double overtime, self-inflicted wounds seemed to be the Bruin’s cause of death.
“Everybody thinks you win and lose in this game because of players. And there’s only a few teams that got way better players than everybody else,” Cronin said. “The rest of these games are won by execution. Trust me, I’ve won over 500 of them. I know, and I’ve never had superior talent. Execution wins games, and it’s defensive execution.”
