Purdue basketball’s latest UCLA loss comes with unprecedented upside

Truly significant Purdue basketball seasons tend to brush up against UCLA somewhere along the way.

That concept remains alive after the No. 4 Boilermakers’ nine-game winning streak and share of the Big Ten lead died Tuesday with a 69-67 loss at Pauley Pavilion. Their first loss in six weeks came at the hands of both an historic rival and a conference newcomer – one which saw a chance to alter the course of its own season, and seized it.

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On John Wooden bobblehead night, no less, Purdue and UCLA wrote a new chapter alongside the 1967 christening of Mackey Arena, the 1969 national championship game and the 1980 Final Four. The Bruins won all of those games too, dashing championship hopes and dampening celebrations.

Tuesday’s loss will aggravate in the short term. UCLA closed the game with eight unanswered points. Purdue’s final 90 seconds featured two turnovers by Braden Smith – the point guard Bruins coach Mick Cronin refers to as “Superman” — and a final open yet errant try on a 7-for-27 night from 3-point range.

This loss can also illuminate in the long term. With Smith’s left knee still compromised from Saturday’s collision at USC, with all of those open 3s clanking, with the opposing lead guard dazzling in perhaps a season-defining performance, the Boilers came up one possession short on the road in the Big Ten.

To trip them up, the preseason No. 12 team in the country had to play up to its potential in a marquee matchup for the first time.

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Purdue encountered an inspired UCLA team

Purdue did not merely return to an arena synonymous with one of the Boilers’ most famous alums. It trespassed into the lair of a wounded animal.

The Bruins played four of five games over a two-week span away from home. They lost three of them – at Iowa, at Wisconsin, and last Saturday at Ohio State. A perceived preseason Big Ten championship challenger came into Tuesday outside the NCAA NET rankings top…

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Publish date : 2026-01-21 11:56:00

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