LOS ANGELES – Trent Perry scored a team-leading 17 points and had seven assists to lead the UCLA men’s basketball team past San Diego, 82-50, in an exhibition game at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial on Tuesday night.
Four Bruins scored in double figures in the team’s second and final exhibition game, as the 2026-27 season gets started next Monday evening.
Filip Jović netted 16 points, sinking 10 of 12 free throws, while Joe Philon III tallied 11 points, a team-leading eight rebounds and three steals. Nikola Kusturica had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes.
San Diego’s Dusty Stromer led the visiting Toreros with 14 points.
UCLA limited San Diego to just 24.2 percent shooting from the field (16-for-66 overall), as the Toreros made just 4 of 25 attempts from 3-point distance.
The Bruins led by a 35-29 margin at halftime before pushing ahead early in the second half. UCLA outscored San Diego in the final 20 minutes, 47-21.
“I knew today when I was hanging out with my dog after our shootaround, I was telling him it's going to be ugly tonight,” said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “I knew that we hadn't seen that type of physicality yet. Experience told me we were going to struggle, offensively. It was going to be an ugly game against this team, especially early. I wasn't shocked – my thing was, I told you so. Coach Palmer wasn't really happy [at halftime] that some guys were getting pushed around. He let it be heard, and that's why he was a great coach.”
UCLA opened the second half with a 13-2 scoring run over the first 5:10 of action. That spurt helped put the Bruins ahead, 48-31. A strong putback layup by Jović lifted UCLA ahead, 44-31. After drawing a foul on a fast break, Philon III knocked down two free throws to push the Bruins on top, 46-31. Xavier Booker’s floating jump shot at the 15:10 mark gave UCLA a 48-31 lead.
From that point in the contest, the Bruins’ advantage never fell to any fewer than 15 points.
Azavier Robinson finished the contest with a team-leading four steals and registered two blocks. Hailing from Indianapolis, Robinson also gathered four rebounds in 21 minutes in the Bruins’ preseason tune-up.
UCLA led San Diego by as many as 10 points late in the first half, as a fast break slam dunk by Philon III pushed UCLA ahead of the Toreros, 25-15, with 6:47 to play.
San Diego pulled to within four points of UCLA late in the opening half. One pair of free throws by Antonio Munoz, followed by a driving layup from Braylon Roman at the 47-second mark cut UCLA’s cushion to 333-29.
Trent Perry led the Bruins with nine points and five assists through the first half.
UCLA will open the 2026-27 regular season against No. 5 Arizona at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, Nov. 2. The Bruins will face Arizona as part of an opening night men’s basketball doubleheader, with Gonzaga taking on Purdue in the preceding contest. UCLA’s opening game will be nationally televised on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.
The Bruins will host five consecutive non-conference games from Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 22.
UCLA’s complete schedule is available by clicking here. Tickets to each of UCLA’s 18 regular-season home games are available here.