UCLA men find their home rhythm again, rout No. 9 Nebraska

LOS ANGELES — Results have become clock work, predictable for the UCLA men’s basketball team. The Bruins thrive in the Pacific time zone and inside Pauley Pavilion, but often struggle immensely outside of that comfort.

“Since I’ve been here, we don’t lose much at home,” head coach Mick Cronin said Tuesday night.

Over two seasons in the Big Ten, UCLA is 29-7 in the Pacific time zone, 31-3 at home and 4-14 playing elsewhere.

That trend continued Tuesday as UCLA handled No. 9 Nebraska, 72-52, leading wire-to-wire in a Quad 1 victory that boosted its KenPom rating from No. 41 to 32 and should propel the Bruins (20-10 overall, 12-7 Big Ten) off the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Not only did the win help ensure safety from potential bid-stealers, but it showed UCLA can compete with high-seeded opponents, and therefore, is capable of a March Madness run – apart from the fact that it those games can’t be played in Westwood.

UCLA won’t have the crowd pop that followed Eric Dailey Jr.’s thunderous second-half dunk, or the raucous cheers as Nebraska’s Sam Hoiberg missed a pair of free throws, ensuring free Fat Sal’s for the students. The Bruins won’t be in the arena where sophomore Trent Perry led the team with 20 points, one game after going scoreless at Minnesota. They won’t be playing on the court where they scored 1.2 points per possession and held Nebraska to .88.

“It’s the best we’ve played all year,” Cronin said. “We went from our worst defensive effort to our best defensive effort.”

It wasn’t the first such turnaround this season, where UCLA has defeated a formidable opponent at home after a blowout loss on the road. In fact, all three of the Bruins victories over opponents who were ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 at the time – Purdue, Illinois and Nebraska – came after away defeats. In addition, each of those games were “get out” games as Cronin put it, in which UCLA’s opponent was on the road for multiple days, played USC then came to Westwood, where the Bruins handed them defeats hours before a flight back to the Midwest.

In this instance, following Saturday’s loss in Minnesota, the Bruins held one practice before Tuesday’s game. They had a film session, which Cronin described as “the worst” one he’s watched. They had a “heart-to-heart” conversation, in which Cronin apologized to Eric Freeny, Steven Jamerson II and Brandon Williams for neglecting to play them in Saturday’s game. They discussed “what the problem’s been all year for us to be a great team.”

Then they slept in their own beds, basked in the 70-degree winter weather and dominated the Cornhuskers (25-5, 14-5).

UCLA, uncharacteristically, controlled the boards, scoring 17 second-chance points, seven of which came in the first 11 minutes to help build a 12-point lead.

Freeny continued his recent development. First, there was a learning moment, as the redshirt freshman fouled Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort, whose four-point play brought the Cornhuskers back within seven. But then Freeny corralled an offensive rebound and found Perry for a 15-footer. And on the next possession, he picked Hoiberg’s pocket before drawing a foul at the other end of the court.

“That’s a tough guy,” Dailey said of Freeny. “He brings that every day in practice.”

On Tuesday, Freeny totaled six deflections, grabbed four offensive rebounds and recorded three steals.

His late-season development has been crucial to UCLA’s success. As has the increase in three-guard lineups since Skyy Clark returned to the starting five. In those four games, the Bruins have averaged 80.2 points.

“The ball is moving,” Perry said. “Dribble drives, drive and kick, just creating gaps for driving lanes. … It’s been great.”

Perry certainly benefited on Tuesday. He stuck a 3-pointer in Jamarques Lawrence’s face and hit another from the right corner to start the second half. After a Nebraska surge cut the margin back to 10, Perry pulled up for a silencer with 6:17 remaining.

Freeny capped his effort by finishing a layup after fighting for an offensive rebound. The crowd applauded his tenacity, chanting his name after the play. Clark then hit a step-back 3-pointer, extending the lead past 20 points, sending the fans to the exits and home happy after UCLA put on a show.

It’s a spectacle they’re used to given UCLA’s recent dominance at Pauley Pavilion, but outcomes they can’t bank on when the Bruins leave town.

“It’s a little tough to travel,” Dailey said. “But you can’t make excuses on the road. We got to still win ball games, and obviously that’s been difficult for us this year.”

Despite the statement they made with Tuesday’s win, that’s the problem the Bruins have to overcome to persevere in upcoming games in the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

NOTES

The Bruins are a half-game behind Purdue and Wisconsin for fifth place in the Big Ten. … The loss knocked the Cornhuskers out of a second-place tie with idle Michigan State.