This post was updated Feb. 21 at 9:43 p.m.
4.9 seconds.
94 feet.
Donovan Dent slips by the first defender, splits two more at the free throw line and goes up and under the fourth, throwing the ball up as time expires.
Ball game.
The senior guard’s last-second buzzer beater propelled UCLA men’s basketball (18-9, 10-6 Big Ten) to a 95-94 overtime upset over No. 10 Illinois (22-6, 13-4) Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, coming back from down 23 for the largest comeback to beat a top-10 opponent in AP history.
“It’s a tough position for any defender with a guy coming at you full speed, and I change direction like that,” Dent said. “So, once I changed direction, I saw that he was behind me. It was just really me and 44 (Zvonimir Ivisic), and I kind of jumped before him so I got him in the air, and then once I got him in the air, I kind of just went up and under and made the layup.”
UCLA has been caught in a hurricane since Feb. 14, falling by a combined 53 points in its two-game Michigan road trip leading up to Saturday’s affair.
And coach Mick Cronin’s nationwide ridicule for ejecting redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II in the Michigan State loss on Tuesday only added fuel to the fire.
But the Bruins seemed to finally escape the cyclone after beginning Saturday’s affair no differently than the Bruins’ previous two losses. The Fighting Illini went on a 20-0 first-half run, led by as much as 23 with 9:27 remaining in the first frame and held the Bruins to just 10 points for more than 10 minutes to open the game.
“We just showed our fight,” said junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. “Fighting for him, fighting for our team, fighting for this school – that’s what it comes to at the end of the day. Our toughness, our mental toughness, we really locked in tonight. I love how we responded to the shots they were making. I love how we responded – even when we had lapses, the next play we got it back.”
And before UCLA’s offensive resurgence, Illinois looked everything like the No. 1 KenPom offense in the nation, nailing 10 of its 19 first-half 3-point attempts off a 54.5% field goal percentage.
Despite the Bruins starting with a three-guard lineup for the first time this season – featuring Dent, senior Skyy Clark and sophomore Trent Perry – their speed and quickness were not enough to keep up with the hot hands and fast-moving offense the Fighting Illini boasted in the first half.
Coach Mick Cronin’s smaller lineup forced senior forward Tyler Bilodeau to man the center position, allowing Illinois’ towering front-line to feast on the interior and on the offensive glass, leading to 20 offensive rebounds and 27 second-chance points.
“‘You’ve got to box out better,’” Cronin said. “That’s hard to do when they get you in a switch, and they get a 7-2 guy rebounding against a 6-1 guy. It’s tough. Because of their ability to shoot, they get you stuck in situations – and we’ve started three small guards. But it was 15-0, second-chance points at halftime. And we went on a run, and there were 10 minutes left in the game, and they still had not had a second chance point in the second half.”
UCLA’s offensive struggles – manifested in just 59 and 56 points in the two previous games off sub-38% from the field and sub-33% from beyond the arc – seemed to seep into Saturday’s affair.
But a 3-pointer from junior forward/center Xavier Booker seemed to hit the light switch on.
The Bruins – who entered Saturday’s game ranked second in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage at 37.8% but 285th in the nation in 3-point shots attempted – sunk 11 3-pointers on 28 attempts, opening the offense by stretching the bigger Fighting Illini squad.
UCLA’s offensive surge climaxed when junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. tied the game at 56-56 off a thundering transition dunk, which lit up the Bruin faithful populating Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins took their first lead at 60-58 with 13:59 remaining in the game.
And once the Bruins broke the deadlock, a new game began.
The UCLA defense – ignited by the return of its offensive prowess in the friendly confines of Pauley Pavilion, an arena in which the Bruins were 15-1 heading into Saturday – held Illinois to just 29.6% and 16.7% second-half shooting splits from the field and 3-point line, respectively.
“The second half, they shot 29%, 16% from three, overtime they shot 22%, 0% from three – 0-for-5,” Cronin said. “So defensively, from about the eight-minute mark, 10, when we started getting back in the game, our intensity picked up.”
UCLA held projected 2026 NBA Draft top-10 pick Keaton Wagler to just 19 points on 33.3% shooting from the field – his worst efficiency since Jan. 7. The Bruins also held forward David Mirkovic to just 1-for-7 shooting from the field and three points – his lowest point all season.
Offensively, Cronin said Friday that he needed to push different buttons to untap his players’ potential.
“You got to stay relentless, keep trying to coach them,” Cronin said. “You’ve got to keep trying to poke and push a different button. You’ve got to keep trying to push different buttons, whatever those buttons may be.”
And Cronin’s methodology seemed to work with Dailey.
In UCLA’s latest road trip, the junior combined for six points and 2-for-7 shooting across the two defeats. And on the season, Dailey boasts a 27.3% 3-point percentage entering Saturday, a mark that sits over 10 points lower than last season’s clip.
But Saturday, something unlocked.
Dailey paced the Bruins in scoring, knocking in 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field, including 3-for-6 of his 3-point attempts.
“I thought Eric – on the court but in the huddles and all that – was ready to fight,” Cronin said. “You’ve got to have some fighters, so screaming and yelling at guys, you’ve got to have some pride and play.”
Despite Dailey’s Bruin-high 20 points, his offensive bounce back means little compared to the win.
“Man, win the game. Win the game, however we got to win,” Dailey said. “I don’t care. I had 20 tonight, but if I had two and we won, great day, you know? It doesn’t matter. Whatever we got to do to get a win.”
Cronin also said that production from the five-spot is necessary to unlock the Bruin offenses’ full potential.
And it seemed that Booker – and Bilodeau, who manned the center position with the three-guard lineup – heard their coach’s call. Booker dropped 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field, while Bilodeau logged 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field.
“I think that lineup also motivated Xavier Booker, who was 7-for-8, and I still wish we’d find him,” Cronin said. “They’re not guarding him, and we don’t find him as much as I want us to find him because people just leave him open at the 3-point line when you drive, the big guys go to block shots. We’ve got to do a better job of finding him.”
While it was the Bruins’ frontline that finally showed up, Cronin’s three-guard looked to be successful in its debut. Perry, Clark and Dent combined for 41 points, while Dent facilitated one of the Bruins’ best offensive showings, tallying 15 assists to zero turnovers.
“Skyy is getting to a point where he could handle the minutes – because he was on a minute restriction at Michigan, he cramped at Michigan State, but that’s (the three-guard lineup has) been the plan because we have five guys who averaged double figures. You’ve got to try to play your best players,” Cronin said.
When turbulence causes a nosedive, a season-saving maneuver becomes imperative.
UCLA did it when it upset then-No. 4 Purdue on Jan. 20 after losing three of the first five games of 2026.
And the Bruins did it again, for the second time in last-second fashion.
But this time, Dent did not find Bilodeau.
He found himself.
