Problems continue to mount for UCLA men in loss to Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Can a team be in crisis just a few games before the start of conference play?

UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a broader downward trend.

Without one of their best players, with goaltender Skyy Clark sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Bruins were deficient in many other areas as well.

Defense. Heart. Hardness. Cohesion. Intelligence.

In a game the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have a realistic chance of finishing elite in the Big Ten, they fell flat once again.

Another terrible first half led to another failed UCLA comeback in an 80-72 loss to Wisconsin Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins searching for answers that seem elusive.

There was a skirmish with 10 seconds left when UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. pushed Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter after absorbing a serious foul, forcing a scrum of players to congregate along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant foul of 1 and Dailey was assessed a technical foul which was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.

The only thing to celebrate for the Bruins was not giving up.

Thanks to a flurry of baskets from Dailey and a three-pointer from Trent Perry that broke his team’s 0-of-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled within 63-56 midway through the second half. What made the Bruins’ rally all the more improbable was that it was largely due to leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau on the bench with four fouls.

But Wisconsin responded with five straight points and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never posed another threat en route to a second straight loss.

Dailey scored 18 points but missed all five of his three-pointers, fitting for a team that made just 1 of 17 shots (5.9 percent) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry 15.

Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won largely on the strength of their volume of three-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.

Unveiling a stifled and defensively challenged performance, UCLA played like it was trying to top its terrible first half performance against Iowa three days earlier.

It didn’t help that the Bruins were shorthanded.

With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and shifted to a smaller lineup featuring forward Brandon Williams alongside Bilodeau as big men.

For the first 10 minutes, it looked like a repeat of Wisconsin’s blowout win over UCLA in the Big Ten tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers before building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.

It never came.

He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for a little over a minute before pulling him after Jamerson fouled. He put backup Jamar Brown on and took him out after Brown gave up a field goal and dropped a pass out of bounds for a turnover. Backup goalkeeper Eric Freeny also had his chance and scored three points.

Wisconsin took the lead with a 13-0 opening run and nearly tied it with a separate 11-0 spurt. The Bruins then lost Perry for the remainder of the first half after he hit his chin as he dove for a loose ball, pounding the court in frustration with a balled-up fist before holding a towel tightly to his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half with a heavy bandage.)

Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half and the Bruins failed to take down Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was the victim of another takedown attempt.

UCLA almost seemed lucky to only trail 45-31 midway through the game, although being on the verge of giving up 90 points couldn’t have pleased a coach known for his defense.

Another failed comeback didn’t make things any better.