Donovan Dent achieves Big Ten tourney history in UCLA win over Rutgers

CHICAGO- It wasn’t exactly a masterpiece of Big Ten basketball, what with the brick barrage and destroyed property strewn everywhere. This probably wasn’t the time to convince anyone either. UCLA could suddenly become a serious NCAA Tournament contender, not with all the ways it managed to keep Rutgers around Thursday night.

But amid the mess of UCLA’s 72-59 win over 14th-seeded Rutgers was a star point guard sliding into the middle of one of his masterpieces, not only carrying the Bruins to victory, but passing, rebounding and defending his way into the Big Ten Tournament record books.

No one in tournament history recorded a triple-double, until UCLA’s Donovan Dent pulled down his 10th rebound with 2:51 remaining. Seconds later, the Bruins finally buried Rutgers for good with a Tyler Bilodeau three-pointer, setting up a quarterfinal game against Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT.

Until the final minutes Thursday, it was mostly a utility star performance from the Bruins’ senior point guard. Until a late media interruption, Dent, like most viewers, didn’t know he was closing in on a milestone. But even before a teammate told him during a timeout to chase that final rebound, Dent had already worked a lot of magic in the middle of a 12-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist performance.

“It’s just fun to see him slide around, get open, get in the paint, make great passes,” Bilodeau said.

On a night where none of UCLA’s shooters were able to find a consistent rhythm, Dent did most of his best work on the sidelines. When forward Xavier Booker blocked a lay-in in the first half, Dent jumped out of bounds to save it and threw it backwards over his head, directly to another teammate. On another occasion in the second half, he fell out of bounds, grabbed an offensive rebound and tossed the ball safely to forward Eric Dailey Jr. for a throw-in.

When UCLA coach Mick Cronin implored his team at halftime to crash the boards in order to get more second-chance points, it was Dent, the 6-foot-2 guard, who unexpectedly led the way, knocking down four offensive boards in the second half. That was twice as many as the entire Rutgers team over the same period.

Cronin spent most of the season demanding more from Dent on defense and on the boards. He told him, upon arriving at Westwood, that he had turned the ball over too much in New Mexico. He would be held to higher standards at UCLA, Cronin said.

This message seems to have stuck true to the situation. Over his last six games, Dent has turned the ball over just four times while racking up 65 assists.

“I give him all the credit,” Cronin said. “He signed. I don’t think he understood what it was going to entail, but he improved so much along the way.”

The same could be said of the Bruins defense, which appears to have ironed out some of its issues in recent weeks. On Thursday night, UCLA held Rutgers to 38 percent from the field while managing to keep the Scarlet Knights from the free throw line. They only shot 10 times from the stripe, while the Bruins were 19 of 23.

UCLA also knocked out Rutgers’ leading scorer, Tariq Francis, who was fresh off scoring 29 points in a first-round win over Minnesota. Francis didn’t score until nine minutes into the second half. He finished with six points on 2-of-11 shooting.

“Guys know if you don’t defend, you’ll get away with it,” Cronin said. “I think that’s the reality. I’m just trying to get the guys to understand that it’s contagious both ways.”

The defense will have to carry UCLA into the quarterfinals, given how poor their offense was for most of the game. The Bruins shot just 38% from the floor, worse than in any other win this season. Bilodeau led the team with 21 points. No one else scored more than 12, as the offense failed to find its rhythm.

The teams spent the first half trading wasted possessions and taking turns managing each other’s shots. Even so, Rutgers gave UCLA plenty of chances to break the game open. The Bruins simply failed to capitalize on them, as both teams shot a measly 31%.

But while Dent worked his magic, UCLA showed its mettle in the second half. It will take more to hang on Friday against Michigan State, a team that just beat the Bruins by 23 a month ago. Thursday also marked the second time this season that UCLA won a game outside of the Pacific Time Zone.

“You have to be able to defend on the road,” Cronin said. “Because your jump shot doesn’t always accompany you on the road.”