CHICAGO — The UCLA men’s basketball team is headed to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, and Donovan Dent put his name in the history books along the way.
Dent had 12 points, 12 assists and a career-high 10 rebounds – the first triple-double in the history of the conference tournament – to help sixth-seeded UCLA beat No. 14 seed Rutgers, 72-59, in a third-round game on Thursday night.
“When you have so many weapons on your offense, the game comes smoothly,” Dent said. “My shots get open because I have such good teammates around me that they don’t want to leave. They just make the game a lot easier for me, and it’s a blessing.”
Dent became the fifth player in program history to record a triple-double, joining Bill Walton (1973), Toby Bailey (1995), Jelani McCoy (1995) and Kyle Anderson (2013).
“His ability to break down defense. It’s so fun to watch,” teammate Tyler Bilodeau said of Dent. “It makes my job pretty easy when he gets me some wide-open shots. It’s just fun to see him slither around, get open, get in the paint, make great passes. He’s a great teammate.”
UCLA (22-10) plays eighth-ranked Michigan State (25-6), the No. 3 seed, in a quarterfinal on Friday at approximately 6 p.m. PT. The Spartans crushed the Bruins, 82-59, last month in East Lansing, Mich.
“They took us to the wood shed [the] last time we played,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.
Bilodeau had 21 points on Thursday to lead the Bruins, who won for the fifth time in six games. Trent Perry scored 12 and Eric Dailey Jr. added 10.
Dailey hit a jumper and then threw down a fast-break dunk before Bilodeau made a 3-pointer to spark a 14-2 run that made it 46-31 with 15:18 left in the game and UCLA led by at least nine the rest of the way.
A mammoth left-handed dunk by Xavier Booker gave the Bruins a 51-38 lead just before the midway point of the second half.
The Scarlet Knights moved within single digits when Dylan Grant drained a 3-pointer to cut UCLA’s lead to 57-48 with 5:51 remaining.
A short time later, Bilodeau made four free throws in a span of 15 seconds and the Bruins led 63-50 with 4:24 remaining.
Mark made consecutive baskets for Rutgers before airballing a 3-point attempt. The ball caromed out to Dent for his 10th rebound to secure the triple-double.
On the other end, Dent fed Bilodeau for a 3-pointer to make it 66-54 with 2:33 left as UCLA closed out the win.
“I didn’t know [about the triple-double opportunity] until the under-four media timeout, and one of my teammates was like you’ve got to get one more rebound,” Dent said. “I was hunting for it there at the end for sure. It felt good to finally get it.”
Cronin didn’t miss a chance to zing his senior point guard.
“Now I’m going to lie to him for sure so he’ll keep rebounding,” he said. “I’m going to tell him you need two for a triple-double, and he’ll keep rebounding.”
Both teams shot just 31% from the field in the first half. UCLA trailed by one before going on a 12-2 run to take a 23-14 lead on Bilodeau’s two free throws. Rutgers was within three later in the half before the Bruins took a 30-24 lead into the break.
“I don’t think I’d call it a good game offensively tonight, but I’ve been trying to tell these guys, you can’t – if you have to score 80 to win, you’re going to be going home early,” Cronin said. “That’s anybody in the tournament, this tournament and the next tournament.
“We didn’t shoot it well tonight. There was a lot of wide-open shots. Hopefully we saved some of them for tomorrow. You’ve got to be able to take defense on the road. Your jump shot doesn’t always go on the road with you.”
UCLA finished at 38.3% overall, including 7 for 23 (30.4%) from 3-point range and held a 40-30 rebounding advantage. The Scarlet Knights connected on 37.9% of their shots and were 6 for 19 (31.6%) from behind the arc.
“Offense missing shots and that type of stuff is going to happen,” Bilodeau said. “We’ve got to play defense, and we’ve got to rebound. … When we’re all playing for each other, playing hard, Coach Cronin-style defense, that’s when we’re successful. We’ve got to keep that up. … Stay together and try to get what we want on offense. Eventually shots are going to fall for us.”
Lino Mark led Rutgers (14-19) with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Tariq Francis, who set a the program record for points in a Big Ten Tournament game with 29 when the Scarlet Knights beat Minnesota, 72-67, in the second round, finished with six points on 2-of-11 shooting against the Bruins.
The Bruins had previously hammered Rutgers, 98-66, on Feb. 3 at Pauley Pavilion.
UP NEXT
UCLA faces No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday at approximately 6 p.m. PT.
