The No. 18 UCLA men’s basketball team returned to action after earning a come-from-behind 57-54 win over Arizona on Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins remained victorious in their next matchup. They won their ninth game in a row during a 111-75 non-conference win over Prairie View A&M on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion. Five players finished in double figures.
“Tough turnaround for us after an emotional win, but I was obviously happy with 26 assists, and our free throws were improved. I was really happy with our improvement at the foul line, that’s going to be important,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.
UCLA (10-2) shot 59 percent from the field and outrebounded the Panthers 39-23. The Bruins also outscored Prairie View 31-6 off turnovers, forcing 17 for the game.
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Dylan Andrews led the Bruins with 21 points and Tyler Bilodeau added 18. Eric Dailey Jr. had 14 points, while freshman guard Trent Perry finished with 11 points off the bench, converting 6-6 attempts from the charity stripe for UCLA.
“I think that everybody was productive tonight with the minutes that they got, which shows that we’ve got depth, and shows that everybody can step up when their name is called,” Dailey Jr. said.
Jordan Tillmon scored a game-high 24 points, Nick Anderson had 19 points and Marcel Bryant added 12 for the Panthers (1-10).
The Bruins led 26-8 after Lazar Stefanovic converted three free throws with 10:59 left in the first half and UCLA proceeded to lead 53-36 at halftime.
UCLA used a 23-9 run in the second half, extending their lead to 31 points after Perry flushed home a dunk to give the Bruins a commanding 76-45 advantage with 14:51 remaining.
The Panthers were unable to make a late run after being outscored 58-39 in the second half and the Bruins went on to win its ninth consecutive game, earning a 111-75 victory over Prairie View A&M.
UCLA will next play North Carolina (6-5) in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday followed by another tough non-conference matchup against No.13 Gonzaga (8-3) on Dec. 28 in Inglewood, California, at the Intuit Dome.
“Games like this, we’re getting ready to go to New York, and we’ve got Gonzaga coming up, too. We’ve got to play every game like it’s our last. I knew that they were a tough team and we were ready to play,” said Andrews.
