UCLA
12-5,4-2Big Ten
Penn State
9-8,0-6Big Ten
Perry Leads UCLA Past Penn State, 71-60
January 14, 2026 | Men's Basketball
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. โ The UCLA men's basketball team defeated Penn State, 71-60, in a road Big Ten contest inside the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday evening.
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Trent Perry scored a career-high 30 points for UCLA, becoming the third Bruin to reach the 30-point plateau this season along with Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark. Bilodeau totaled 21 points in the win at Penn State (9-8, 0-6 Big Ten).
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Perry scored 22 of his team-best 30 points for UCLA (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) in the second half. He finished the game having made 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range and going a perfect 12-for-12 at the free throw line.
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"Trent made some big shots," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "They're a team that likes to double the posts and pack it in the paint, but I got him to a point where he's not hesitating as an offensive player โ I think that matters. It's huge for him, just got to keep building. If you're going to win games and go through a season, that's our third different player to have 30-plus points in a game. Tyler and Skyy, and now Trent. It's going to be different guys, you just going to have to keep grinding out. That's conference play."
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UCLA out-rebounded the Nittany Lions by a 32-21 margin. The Bruins registered 11 offensive rebounds.
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Penn State's Dominick Stewart scored a team-leading 16 points for the Nittany Lions. Eli Rice scored 14 points, Josh Reed totaled 12 points, and Ivan Juric registered nine points and a team-best nine rebounds.
The Bruins were a perfect 21-for-21 at the free throw line. That marked UCLA's best 100 percent performance at the line dating back to the early 1970s (when free throws were regularly charted in UCLA's box scores). Previously, UCLA was 13-for-13 in a contest against California on March 1, 1979. The Bruins last shot 100 percent at the free throw stripe on March 20, 2025, going 10-for-10 in an NCAA Tournament win last season over Utah State.
UCLA led Penn State throughout the contest, securing a 29-23 halftime lead and pushing their advantage to eight points, at 47-39, with 13:43 to play. Penn State took a two-point lead, at 49-47, with 11:46 to go in the second half. Bilodeau immediately answered for UCLA with a 3-pointer. From that point in the game, the Bruins never trailed.
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With the Bruins leading, 52-50, Perry drilled a key 3-point basket at the 8:35 mark to put UCLA on top by five points. Bilodeau followed with 7:51 to play, hitting a 3-pointer, to push UCLA's advantage to 58-50.
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Perry sank a pair of free throws at the 6:04 mark to push UCLA ahead, 60-52, and after a missed shot by Penn State, Perry nailed a 3-pointer with 5:10 left in the contest.
Perry scored a team-leading eight points in the first half, helping UCLA secure a 29-23 halftime advantage.
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With UCLA trailing by four points in the opening half, Steven Jamerson II corralled an offensive rebound and put the ball back up to cut the deficit to two points, at 21-19, with 5:04 to play. Perry tied the game, at 21-21, with two free throws. Bilodeau sank a 3-pointer to push the Bruins in front 24-21, as part of a 7-0 scoring run.
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Eric Freeny buried two 3-pointers in the first half to help UCLA capitalize. His second 3-pointer, with 2:46 to play before halftime, helped the Bruins take a 27-21 lead.
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UCLA will return to action at Ohio State on Saturday, Jan. 17. Game time is set for 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET, in Ohio) at OSU's Schottenstein Center. The contest will be nationally televised on CBS, with Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery on the call.
Following this Saturday's road contest, the Bruins will play five of their following six games inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Next week, UCLA will host No. 5-ranked Purdue on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and Northwestern on Saturday, Jan. 24.
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Game Notes: UCLA has opened Big Ten play with four wins in six games, including road victories at Washington (Dec. 3) and Penn State (Jan. 14) โฆ the Bruins made at least 10 three-pointers for the third time this season โฆ UCLA was a perfect 21-for-21 at the free throw line, as Trent Perry made 12 of 12 free throw attempts โฆ Tyler Bilodeau was just one rebound shy of a double-double (21 points, nine rebounds) โฆ UCLA limited Penn State to just 4-of-22 from 3-point range (18.2%) โฆ the Bruins earned their second win over Penn State in as many seasons, having secured a 78-54 win in Los Angeles last year โฆ Tyler Bilodeau (4-of-7, from three) and Trent Perry (4-of-8, from three) each nailed a team-best four 3-pointers โฆ Jamar Brown was 2-for-2 at the free throw line and has shot 12-for-12 from the stripe all season (making his first free throw attempts tonight since Nov. 25, against California) โฆ Steven Jamerson had eight points and eight rebounds and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
