Sometimes, you just have to get through it.
After an illness spread through the team this week, weakening both players and coaches, UCLA endured pockets of listless play against a severely overmatched opponent Saturday afternoon.
When Penn State rolled off the first eight points of the second half inside Pauley Pavilion, the Nittany Lions trailed by just five points and there was audible unease among fans.
But the Bruins pulled themselves together, went on a massive run and pulled away for a 78-54 victory, extending their winning streak to seven games.
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There was a lot to like for UCLA (18-6 overall, 9-4 Big Ten) given the circumstances, the Bruins committing just three turnovers while forcing 18 and also enjoying the benefits of excellent ball movement. The most memorable sequence came early in the second half, when Eric Dailey Jr. threw a bounce pass to Kobe Johnson, who threw a bounce pass to William Kyle III for a two-handed dunk.
The fans were roaring again several minutes later when UCLA’s Skyy Clark drove into the lane and threw a lob to Aday Mara for another dunk.
Johnson compiled his best game as a Bruin, finishing with a season-high 15 points on seven-for-12 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Clark was also an across-the-board contributor with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists.
UCLA’s Sebastian Mack added 14 points off the bench and Tyler Bilodeau had 11, the latter reaching the 1,000-point threshold for his career.
Penn State (13-11, 3-10) entered the game short-handed, with swingman Puff Johnson (hand) and center Yanic Konan Niederhauser (ankle) both sidelined. It wasn’t what the Nittany Lions needed considering they had lost eight of their previous nine games and were 0-5 on the road.
Unlike UCLA, which was fighting to improve its NCAA tournament seeding, Penn State was vying just for a berth in the Big Ten tournament, which invites the top 15 of its 18 teams.
True to form for a team that had only lost two games by double digits before Saturday, the Nittany Lions proved scrappy in the game’s early going. When forward Zach Hicks buried a three-pointer midway through the first half, Penn State held a two-point lead.
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The momentum shifted thanks to the continuation of a recent trend — the Bruins forcing far more turnovers than they committed.
That phenomenon was on display midway through the first half, when UCLA forced four consecutive turnovers to spark an 11-0 run. A Mack steal and outlet pass led to a Clark dunk. A Johnson steal triggered his own breakaway dunk. A Johnson steal led to a Clark layup. At that point, Penn State was so rattled that guard Ace Baldwin Jr. threw a pass out of bounds on his team’s next possession.
By halftime, UCLA had forced nine turnovers while committing just one, a big reason the Bruins shot 58.6% thanks to all those easy baskets that were reflected in their 44-31 advantage on the scoreboard.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
