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PHILADELPHIA — So much was going to have to go right for UCLA basketball, once again left without its leading scorer.
Another solid showing from its defense and continued strong post play from Xavier Booker was a start.
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But there was no way the Bruins were going to beat UConn on Sunday night with the sort of sloppiness they displayed, the number of layups they missed or the number of times they fouled a 3-point shooter.
UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. tries to get through UCLA’s Trent Perry, from left, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. during the first half in a second-round NCAA Tournament game Sunday in Philadelphia. AP
Ultimately, short-handed UCLA was no match for a deeper, more poised and simply better opponent.
Putting up a worthy fight until the final minutes, the seventh-seeded Bruins finally fell short during a 73-57 loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The unraveling came in a blur. Having wiped out most of a 12-point deficit, the Bruins twice took shots that could have brought them within two. They missed both.
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UCLA’s Trent Perry then fouled Braylon Mullins on a 3-point attempt — joining Jamar Brown and Donovan Dent in making that bad blunder — and the Huskies were off on a 9-0 run that gained momentum with a technical foul on UCLA coach Mick Cronin, which came after he appeared to sarcastically applaud a non-call on a missed Perry layup in which there might have been contact by a defender.
That was pretty much it.
Cronin said he would have forced his players to run if they had another practice for committing the sin of fouling jump shooters.
“That is mind-boggling,” Cronin said. “That is sickening to me. That is sickening. I have certain pet peeves, and that’s one of them.”
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The Huskies (31-5) advanced to play third-seeded Michigan State in an East Regional semifinal on Friday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
For the Bruins (24-12), it’s a second straight second-round exit…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/short-handed-ucla-fades-during-033035714.html
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Publish date : 2026-03-23 03:30:00
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