The UCLA Bruins have been one of the better teams in college basketball, and on Saturday night, they had a tall task. While being home at Pauley Pavilion, they hosted the 10th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. The game took more than the 40 minutes, as it went to overtime, but the game would end with a buzzer-beater to prove that upsets can happen before March. Let’s take a closer look at what happened throughout the game to give the UCLA Bruins a 95-94 overtime victory.
Donovan Dent hits buzzer-beater for UCLA Bruins win
The UCLA Bruins were not expected to win this game, as the 6.5-point spread favoring the Illinois Fighting Illini showed before the game began. This game was a story of two different halves as the Fighting Illini held a 23-point lead when they had a 33-10 lead with 9:23 remaining in the opening half. However, the Bruins were not giving up.
The Bruins continued to fight back and claw at the deficit, with the Fighting Illini only up by seven points when halftime hit. UCLA fought back as they even led late in the second half, but Donovan Dent missed a stepback 3-point shot as time expired to bring the game to overtime.
UCLA was facing some foul trouble as starters Eric Dailey Jr and Skyy Clark would each foul out late in the game. However, the Bruins were able to continue fighting back against the top-10 program in the nation. With Illinois down one point and only a handful of seconds remaining, Ben Humrichous missed a 3-point shot, but Keaton Wagler grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back to give Illinois a 94-93 lead with 4.9 seconds.
However, Dent was ready to call game. Out of the timeout called by both teams, he would drive the length of the court and make a layup as time expired to win 95-94. This game is the largest deficit that a Cronin-led team has come back on, with the previous being a 14-point comeback.
Both teams are going to be making March Madness, and with a handful of regular season games remaining, this is just a footnote at the end of the day. However, this is the second game UCLA won against a ranked program this season, and gives them momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
For Illinois, they seemingly took their foot off the gas pedal and it cost them. They are fighting to stay a top-four seed in the conference tournament. The Big Ten is all jumbled up, so every game is massive. This is a good win for the UCLA Bruins and hopefully a wake-up call for the Illinois Fighting Illini.
