The Bruins had the McKale Center holding its collective breath down the stretch, but the Wildcats gave their crowd something to cheer about by hanging on to beat the red-hot intruders.
No. 5 UCLA men's basketball (17-3, 8-1 Pac-12) saw its 14-game winning streak come to a close Saturday, falling 58-52 to No. 11 Arizona (17-3, 6-3). It marked a season-low in points for the Bruins, despite playing the Wildcats entering the game ranked No. 280 in points allowed per game and No. 66 in adjusted defense.
If it weren't for a late push in the final two minutes, UCLA may have wound up with its fewest points in the Mick Cronin era, but the defense created opportunities for them to make it close in the waning moments of the game.
The Bruins, down by 12, forced four consecutive Wildcat turnovers before blocking two shots and setting themselves up for a wild finish. Center Adem Bona had emerged from his early-game foul trouble to convert with clutch buckets and a big block against the backboard, while the Arizona offense that had found its rhythm in the second half started to unravel.
Point guard Tyger Campbell missed the layup that would have cut the lead to two with four seconds left, though, and the Wildcats were able to close out the win with some garbage time free throws, pumping up their reenergized home crowd along the way.
Campbell led UCLA with 13 points, but on an inefficient 5-for-18 shooting from the field. Guard Jaylen Clark and guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. each finished with 12 points on 5-for-17 and 4-for-13 shooting from the field, respectively.
While Bona got his 11 points on a far cleaner 5-for-6 shooting, guards David Singleton and Dylan Andrews were scoreless on nine combined attempts and five 3-point tries. The Bruins got just four points outside of their top-four scorers, and they put up .313/.200/.545 shooting splits as a team.
Singleton was missing wide open 3s, Clark was missing bunnies and both Jaquez and Campbell were missing plenty of unguarded midrange jumpers. Holding the Wildcats to 38.8% shooting from the field and 27.8% from deep wasn't enough, as the nine-point difference at the free throw line and four-point difference in the paint wound up made the difference.
UCLA tried to set the tone by forcing three turnovers on their first five defensive possessions, and they even had an early shooting advantage as well. After Clark hit his first road 3-pointer of the season, guard Kerr Kriisa tried to answer but saw his long ball bounce off the back rim.
The Wildcats missed six straight shots in a five-minute span, but the Bruins committed multiple traveling violations and could only build the lead out to four.
Arizona still managed to tie things up at 16 all, though, after Clark got called for a flop and Bona sent center Oumar Ballo to the line for two on his second personal foul of the day. Big man Kenneth Nwuba, meanwhile, picked up his third foul just moments later on an illegal screen.
Cronin left Nwuba in the game, and the Bruins got their feet back under them thanks to a pair of successful midrange jumpers by Campbell.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the day on a 3-pointer by guard Courtney Ramey with 3:39 left in the half, but Jaquez immediately answered with a signature turnaround deep 2 to put his team back ahead.
Nwuba did eventually commit his fourth foul in the first half alone, allowing Arizona to knot the score at 22-22. Mac Etienne came in to replace him, making his first trip to Tucson since he spit on Wildcat fans who were trash talking him walking off the court last season.
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Etienne committed a loose ball foul himself, sending Ballo to the line yet again. Arizona got 10 of its first 26 points from the charity stripe, and attempted twice as many free throws as UCLA in the first half.
The Bruins trailed 26-23 at the break, and they missed six shots in a row between the end of the first half and the start of the second. Campbell finally broke that cold streak with a 3-pointer that tied the score, but a Ballo block led to a fast break triple by Ramey, and Kriisa sank another to make it a six-point game.
When Bona committed his third foul of the game on an and-1 by forward Azuolas Tubelis, the McKale Center crowd erupted as their team went ahead by more than two possessions for the first time all day.
Even when Jaquez snapped the Wildcats' 9-0 run with a 3-pointer, Tubelis punched right back with back-to-back layups.
UCLA was unable to string together two unanswered scoring possessions in the second half until there were just nine minutes left on the clock, and even then, Campbell went 1-for-2 at the line to limit how much ground they made up. An and-1 by Ballo wiped out that progress regardless.
Arizona's lead fluctuated between eight and 12 points for nearly 10 whole minutes, until Ramey hit a straightaway 3-pointer with 5:26 left to go. That put UCLA down by 13 – its largest deficit of the season – but they were not out of it just yet.
Campbell sank a 3, and after Ballo and Bona traded alley-oop finishes, the Bruins were back down by 10 inside of two minutes. Bona flushed home another Campbell lob off a Jaquez steal, then Clark got a steal and score to cut the gap down to six.
Jaquez deflected a pass to Bona, then ran down the court for a 3-point attempt that would have made it a one-possession game. Although Jaquez missed the shot, he and Campbell forced a five-second back-to-basket violation, which led to a Bona hook shot on the other end.
Arizona broke the press and Tubelis went up for an open dunk, but Jaquez came flying in from behind for the block. Guard Pelle Larsson got the offensive board and put up a layup, only for Bona to block it off the backboard and give UCLA the ball back.
Bona's follow-up block was initially called a goaltend on the floor, but an official review reversed that decision. The Bruins were down four points with 12.8 remaining.
Campbell and Jaquez were both unable to convert around the basket, and the winning streak ended unceremoniously as a result.
Ballo and Tubelis combined for 30 points and 18 boards, with 12 of those points coming off free throws.
UCLA will return to action Jan. 26 against crosstown rival USC at the Galen Center. That game, which will be broadcast on ESPN2, will tip off at 6 p.m..
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