University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
24-11,13-7Big Ten
UCF
21-12,9-9Big 12
Men's Basketball Outlasts UCF in NCAA Tournament, 75-71
March 20, 2026 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA โ The No. 7-seed UCLA men's basketball team defeated No. 10-seed UCF, 75-71, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in an East Regional contest at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday.
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The Bruins (24-11) held off a late surge by UCF (21-12). UCLA's cushion in the game's final two minutes never fell to any fewer than three points. UCLA led UCF at halftime, 35-27, and pushed its margin up to 14 points โ at 58-44 โ with 8:18 left in the contest.
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UCF trailed UCLA, 70-62, with 50 seconds to go. The Knights made a pair of 3-point baskets in the final 35 seconds and cut down UCLA's advantage to 72-69, after a 3-pointer from Jordan Burks with 10 seconds left. UCLA's Trent Perry made three of four free throws in the final 30 seconds. As a team, UCLA made 13 of its 18 free throw attempts on Friday night, all in the second half.
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"We talked about it pregame, to answer your question," Mick Cronin said, speaking about UCF reducing UCLA's 14-point lead down to three points. "They have five wins this year, but they came back from 10 down or more. We talked about with our team. And although at times it didn't look like it, we worked all week on our press offense. We knew it was coming. We started breaking the press and scoring."
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The Bruins led by as many as 14 points against UCF with 1:28 to play in the first half. UCF's Devan Cambridge hit a 3-pointer with 1:21 remaining and Carmelo Pacheco knocked down a 3-pointer with 59 seconds to play. That helps UCF reduce UCLA's lead to eight points โ at 35-27 โ by halftime.
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Eric Dailey Jr. scored a team-leading 20 points, connecting on 8 of 17 shots. Perry had 15 points and five rebounds, and Xavier Booker registered 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Donovan Dent also scored in double figures (10 points), finishing the game with five assists, a season-high six steals, and five rebounds.
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UCLA played without senior forward Tyler Bilodeau, who sat out on Friday night with a right knee sprain.
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Burks finished with a team-leading 22 points for UCF. He connected on 6 of 11 attempts from 3-point distance. Riley Kugel had 13 points and five rebounds, while Jamichael Stillwell tallied 10 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds.
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UCLA controlled much of Friday night's game, shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 6-for-21 from 3-point range (28.6 percent). The Bruins limited UCF to 37.5 percent shooting and were outrebounded by a 53-41 margin.
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UCF led by a 6-0 margin from the start, before UCLA scored eight straight points to take an 8-6 cushion. From that point in the opening half, the Bruins never trailed. Dailey Jr. scored UCLA's first six points and had eight of the Bruins' first 10 points.
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UCLA will return to action against No. 2-seed UConn (30-5) in the second round on Sunday, March 22. Game time in Philadelphia at Xfinity Mobile Arena is set for 5:45 p.m. PT (8:45 p.m. ET). The winner of Sunday's game will advance to the Sweet 16, facing either No. 3-seed Michigan State or No. 6-seed Louisville in Washington, D.C.ย
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