Bruins Take Down Northwestern, 71-64

Saturday, January 24

Los Angeles, Calif.

3:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

14-6,6-3Big Ten

Northwestern

9-11,1-8Big Ten

Northwestern

UCLA

Trent Perry

Photo by: Jan Kim Lim

Bruins Take Down Northwestern, 71-64

January 24, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team earned a 71-64 victory over Northwestern on Saturday afternoon in a Big Ten Conference game inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial.

UCLA (14-6, 6-3 Big Ten) had four players finish in double figures. Tyler Bilodeau and Trent Perry led the way with 18 points each. Bilodeau finished the night shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range.

Donovan Dent added 13 points, five assists, four rebounds, and two steals, and Eric Dailey Jr. had 11 points and eight rebounds.

"Obviously we struggled at the foul line, had some sloppy turnovers," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Now I'm going to say two things. One, Chris [Collins] made a great adjustment. He just went small. We don't have anybody that can throw it in the post. You know, Mike Warren is not out there throwing it. We really struggled to throw it to the man in the low post. Now, when he was getting pushed and fouled a few times, when we tried to, there was no call. We really struggle in that area. Now, my guess is Trent [Perry] and Donny [Dent] get tired."

The Bruins led, 41-31, at halftime and pushed their second-half advantage to as many as 16 points. UCLA secured a 58-42 advantage with 12:50 to play, before Northwestern clawed their way back into the contest. The visiting Wildcats (9-11, 1-8 Big Ten) cut UCLA's cushion to six points (62-56) with 2:54 remaining.

Jamar Brown's 3-point bucket at the 2:35 mark handed the Bruins a nine-point advantage. From that point in the final three minutes, UCLA's advantage never fell to any fewer than seven points.

UCLA shot 49.1 percent from the field overall and 44.4 percent from 3-point range (8-for-18), but made just 11 of 21 attempts at the free throw line (52.4 percent).

Early in the contest, Northwestern used an 8-1 scoring to secure a 10-6 lead before Bilodeau drained a 3-pointer. Two possessions later, Dent found Perry crashing the glass. Perry's bucket put the Bruins on top, 11-10, with just over 15 minutes to go in the opening half.

UCLA scored six of the next eight points to establish a 16-12 lead, holding Northwestern to 1-for-7 shooting from the field. During that stretch, Bilodeau made a 3-pointer, and Dailey Jr. finished at the rim on the fast break.

Bilodeau, who has averaged a team-leading 18.2 points per game this season, added his third 3-pointer of the afternoon to push the Bruins in front by six points, 23-17. Perry followed with back-to-back baskets before Bilodeau added his fourth triple to put UCLA ahead, 34-25, with 4:28 left in the first half.

The Bruins used a 10-0 scoring run to push in front by a first-half high 14 points (39-25). Brown capped the run for UCLA with a corner 3-pointer with 3:02 left in the first half.

UCLA shot 61 percent from the field in the first half. Bilodeau led all UCLA scorers in the opening half with 16 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the field. He finished the afternoon having made 7 of 11 shots.

Dailey Jr. opened the second half with UCLA's seventh 3-pointer of the day, and the Bruins opened up a 14-point advantage, 50-36. Perry and Dent made shots on back-to-back possessions to stretch the Bruin lead to a game-best 16 points, at 58-42.

The Bruins held Northwestern to over nine minutes without a made shot from the field, as the Bruins stifled the Wildcats from the 13:36 point in the second half to the 3:49 mark.

UCLA will return to action at Oregon on Wednesday, Jan. 28. Game time at Oregon's Matthew Knight Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' game will be televised by Big Ten Network.