{"id":4945,"date":"2026-03-14T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/4945\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:10:09","slug":"ucla-stuns-michigan-state-to-reach-big-ten-tournament-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/4945\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA stuns Michigan State to reach Big Ten tournament semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0When UCLA<\/a> met Michigan State on the Spartans\u2019 home court last month, it turned out to be an eye-opening moment<\/a> for the Bruins. The game was out of hand in minutes. At one point, they trailed the Spartans by more than 30. The night went so awry for UCLA that coach Mick Cronin ejected one of his own players<\/a> in the final minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took us to the woodshed,\u201d Cronin recalled this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLit us up in every aspect,\u201d added point guard Donovan Dent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But those Bruins would bear little resemblance to the unflinching juggernaut that took the floor Friday, determined to show what they had learned. The result was one of the best efforts of UCLA\u2019s season, a rollicking 88-84 victory<\/a> that not only redeemed the Bruins\u2019 February flop but sent them soaring into the Big Ten tournament semifinals, where they\u2019ll face No. 7 seed Purdue on Saturday.<\/p>\n

They did it with one of their best offensive performances of the season, shooting 56% from the floor. They did it by draining three-pointers at a stunning rate, 13 in all, their second-most in the past four seasons. And they did it with defense, piling up 40 deflections during a master class effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were playing like our life was on the line,\u201d Dent said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you have to do in these types of games.\u201d<\/p>\n

That UCLA upended one of the Big Ten\u2019s best without its top scorer and deadliest sharpshooter, Tyler Bilodeau<\/a>, in the lineup for most of its season\u2019s most critical matchup made it all the more stunning.<\/p>\n

Bilodeau didn\u2019t return to the game after banging his knee under the basket late in the first half, and Cronin said it would take \u201cliterally a miracle\u201d for him to suit up Saturday against Purdue. How long he has to sit out after that was dependent on the results of an MRI scan late Friday night.<\/p>\n

\"Michigan <\/p>\n

Michigan State forward Coen Carr, center, tries to control the ball between UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau, left, and guard Eric Freeny, right, during the first half Friday.<\/p>\n

(Nam Y. Huh \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

But to play the way UCLA did without him against Michigan State was \u201cmonumental for us,\u201d Cronin said.<\/p>\n

The difference for UCLA once again turned out to be Dent\u2019s performance. The night after he dropped the first triple-double in the tournament\u2019s history, the senior star continued his late-season surge with 23 points, 12 assists and six rebounds. He was equally as disruptive on the defensive end, forcing a game-high four steals.<\/p>\n

It was a decidedly different version of Dent than took the floor in February against the Spartans. In that game, Dent scored just six points and had four assists and four turnovers. In the seven games since, he\u2019s had six total turnovers … and 77 assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat time of season, we didn\u2019t know who we were yet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were still trying to figure things out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But since that point, Dent says, \u201cwe have a whole different mindset as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Friday, in that sense, made for an ideal measuring stick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to redeem myself from the first time we played,\u201d Dent said. \u201cI think we all did. We didn\u2019t really show them our full selves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full breadth of the Bruins\u2019 potential on both ends was certainly on display. Even as Michigan State came roaring back in the second half, cutting the lead to just two in the final minute, UCLA never flinched.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffensively they were rolling,\u201d Cronin said, \u201cbut we kept answering them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right when the Bruins needed a big play on defense, Dent jumped in front of a pass from Michigan State\u2019s Kur Teng with 1:10 remaining, drew a foul and hit two free throws.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA's <\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Trent Perry celebrates after shooting a three-pointer against Michigan State in the first half Friday.<\/p>\n

(Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

UCLA still needed to hold on for dear life. After Dent missed a free throw with 51 seconds left, Teng hit a three-pointer from the corner to cut the Bruins\u2019 lead to two. This time, Trent Perry<\/a> sank two more from the stripe.<\/p>\n

Perry would have to hit four more free throws in the final 12 seconds, all after taking a hard foul to the head. But as he walked to the line for each, no one on the UCLA sideline even considered the possibility that Perry might miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the huddle, and they\u2019re saying, \u2018You\u2019re going to knock these down,\u201d Perry said. \u201c\u2018We\u2019re going on the other end.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Cronin, \u201cIn all seriousness, I\u2019ve never seen him miss a big free throw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t change Friday, as Perry punctuated one of his best games as a Bruin with four final free throws to seal the victory. Perry finished with 22 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a dangerous team when he\u2019s playing like that,\u201d Dent said.<\/p>\n

UCLA definitely looked as dangerous as ever Friday. The question now, with a season-long win streak in tow, is whether this version of the Bruins can keep it rolling \u2014 especially if Bilodeau misses time.<\/p>\n

But count Dent as a true Bruin believer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re peaking at the right time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0When UCLA met Michigan State on the Spartans\u2019 home court last month, it turned out to be an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3946,3948,3951,3208,8,3952,3957,3947,9,3949,3207,3950,3955,3954,7,3956,3953,2574],"class_list":{"0":"post-4945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-bruins","9":"tag-dent","10":"tag-free-throw","11":"tag-game","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-jumper","14":"tag-kur-teng","15":"tag-michigan-state","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-night","18":"tag-point","19":"tag-season","20":"tag-spartans","21":"tag-three-pointer","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-tournament-semifinal","24":"tag-trent-perry","25":"tag-ucla"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116227461796578764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}