No. 15 UCLA (11-3) suffered their first conference loss of the season to Nebraska (12-2) 66-58 after fouls and failure from three spelled trouble on the road for the Bruins.
UCLA started strong, opening the game with a 7-0 scoring run. However, their lead disappeared as quickly as it came.
The Bruins lost and then regained their lead after the two teams traded 15-0 runs and UCLA sat ahead 22-15 with 5:09 remaining in the first half.
Nebraska retook the lead off two free throws by Brice Williams to cap off a Husker 9-0 run to again answer UCLA. Junior guard Skyy Clark tied the game at 24 apiece to end the half.
The second half was marred for the Bruins by foul trouble and a lack of success from three. UCLA made just one three-pointer out of 11 attempts in the second, a jumper by senior guard Lazar Stefanovic with 3:34 remaining. The Bruins were just 4-28 from three overall.
“You can't go 4-28 and have any chance to win against a team that stands in the paint and dares you to shoot,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said in a postgame interview.
While the Bruins’ shooting from three in the second half was a problem, the points they gave up at the free throw line was a fatal flaw.
UCLA fouled the Huskers 24 times in the game, but 17 of those fouls came in the second half. This afforded the Huskers plenty of free throw chances, and they took advantage. They shot 21-25 FT in the second half, 50% of their second half points and the difference maker in the Nebraska win.
The second half began as a back-and-forth exchange, with neither team leading by more than four. Around the twelve minute mark of the half the Huskers claimed the lead and began to inch away with it.
A 14-4 run by Nebraska, with seven points coming from Husker free throws, put them up over the Bruins 50-38 with 8:02 remaining. Nebraska led by as much as 13 in the second half and kept the Bruins at arms length until the final minutes.
UCLA climbed back up with a 6-0 run to cut the Husker lead down 58-54 with less than a minute left.
While they made it a two-possession game, the Bruins never reached closer.
Three Bruins committed personal fouls in the last 22 seconds of the game and allowed a 5-0 run of purely free throws to seal the Nebraska victory 66-58.
“We didn't play well enough to win against a good team on the road,” Cronin said in a postgame interview.