ANN ARBOR, Mich. – UCLA’s (17-8, 9-5) matchup against No. 2 Michigan (24-1,14-1) was going to be a hard game regardless, but a total collapse in the second half made it impossible for the Bruins.
UCLA started strong in the first half despite the obvious skill disparity between the teams. As the half drew to a close UCLA gained momentum and despite falling behind early on, the Bruins put together a 7-0 to cut the Wolverine lead down to just two, 40-38.
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That would be the last sign of any hope for the Bruins, though. The surging offense UCLA demonstrated in the first half as nowhere to be seen in the second. Michigan opened with a 9-2 run and never looked back while the Bruins struggled to score at all, let alone stay in the game.
“We were awful in the second half. We were God awful,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said (via UCLA Athletics). “We missed eight unguarded threes… If you’re gonna come in here and win you’ve got to score.”
UCLA scored just 18 points in the second half and shot 7-27 from the field while only making one of 10 attempted three point shots. The Bruins’ cold streak wasn’t even truly a result of any rigorous defense by the Wolverines, but simply bad shooting overall.
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Bad offense and a worse defense
While the lack of scoring was clearly upsetting to Cronin, the lack of defense was even more appalling in his eyes. The Wolverines shot 18-23 in the second half to put up 46 points and went 4-6 from beyond the arc.
It took little effort for any given Wolverine to carve up the Bruins’ defense, evidence by the fact that there wasn’t an individual player that led this second half surge, but rather a whole team effort. No Wolverine hit double digits in the second half, but player on the roster except for one scored at least two points.
“This is the worst second half defensive field goal percentage of my career,” Cronin said.
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It would have taken a lot for UCLA to pull off a victory against Michigan considering the way the Wolverines have played this season and with the fact that the Bruins were in hostile territory. With all these factors against the Bruins, any kind of deflation in the second half would have been difficult, but their complete implosion made their mistakes fatal.
“You can’t have a team score 80 points in their home gym and they felt very comfortable,” sophomore guard Trent Perry said. “There’s really nothing else to it. They beat us totally in the second half and we just laid down.”
