It was a party in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night, as UCLA (18-9, 10-6) pulled off a shocking upset against No. 10 Illinois (22-6, 13-4), 95-94, after losing its last two games by a combined 53 points. The game went down to the wire in overtime, but a full-court layup by Bruins senior guard Donovan Dent as the buzzer sounded, sealed the win. UCLA’s students stormed the court as Illinois went back to the locker room, questioning how a 23-point lead in the first half turned into a loss.

“Enough is enough,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. “You do this in two weeks, you go home.”

Illini bring heat wave early

Just about everything went right for Illinois right after tipoff. The shots were falling from the jump, with the Illini drilling three of their first four treys to open the game. Those shots each came from three different players, showcasing the offensive variety and shooting talent that Illinois has.

The Illini shot 10 for 19 from deep in the first half and were boosted by a heater from graduate student forward Ben Humrichous, who went 4 for 4 from three in the first 20 minutes.

“Offensively I think, when we did what we do, we got whatever we wanted,” Humrichous said.

A 17-10 rebounding margin, including 9-4 on the offensive glass, was also key to building Illinois’ lead in the first half. The Illini used those offensive rebounds to score 15 second-chance points. UCLA had 0 in comparison and could not find a way to hold Illinois to one-shot possessions. The Illini were not missing much, and when they did, a second shot usually did the trick. That’s a killer for most teams, and it showed on the scoreboard early with Illinois’ 33-10 lead.

“I was worried before the game because everybody’s got all the answers behind the keyboard, and these kids read that stuff,” said UCLA head coach Mick Cronin. “I didn’t like the look on their face before the game. I think it was almost like they had lost confidence, and we played like that early. I kept telling them, ‘It’s your career guys. Nobody’s in Ukraine carrying a rifle, man. Let’s play some ball, play some ball.’ Trying to get them to relax.”

Wagler goes down, UCLA goes on a run

Unfortunately for the Illini, freshman guard Keaton Wagler took a hard fall with 8:28 remaining in the first half, and he headed back to the locker room grabbing his left shoulder. The Bruins had made two buckets right before Wagler exited, and they continued to find that groove right after.

UCLA made nine more straight baskets, going on a huge run to shift momentum away from Illinois. Confidence is contagious, and whatever it was, the Bruins couldn’t miss for most of the second leg of the opening half. The crowd really got into the game at this point as well, with Bruin fans drowning out the strong contingent of Illini fans that showed up out West.

A foul on a three by freshman forward David Mirković, with almost no time remaining at the end of the first half, was also costly for the Illini. It gave the Bruins a chance to shoot three free throws, which they hit, and it cut the Illini lead from 10 to single digits heading into halftime.

“Let’s go, let’s f—ing go,” said UCLA assistant coach David Singleton as the team headed back to the locker room.

Bruins don’t let up, Illini lackluster defensively

The momentum that UCLA went into halftime with carried over after the break. On both ends of the floor, the Bruins executed over and over again to outscore the Illini by seven in the second half.

“We let them find a rhythm, and we let really average shooters on their team start making shots and get comfortable, and then it stressed us,” Underwood said.

Junior forward Eric Dailey Jr. shot 3 for 5 from deep after halftime despite shooting under 30% from three this season. It was a big boost for the Bruins, who did not shoot it all that great themselves from three. However, they were 9 for 16 inside the arc. Around the rim is where the Bruins really made an impact offensively.

“They got out in transition a little bit, and Dent’s pretty good downhill, and we got away from our principles a little bit,” Underwood said. “We got worried about them making shots instead of just playing with a little variance and playing the numbers, and you can’t take them all away at this level. You can’t take everything away, so all of a sudden it became layups and easy baskets.”

Underwood was not happy with his team’s lack of defensive energy and ability to get stops. That was evident in crunch time. Senior guard Skyy Clark missed a three with 48 seconds to go, but Illinois gave up an offensive rebound that led to two UCLA free throws. The Illini were then forced to play down two with limited time at the end of regulation. Had they gotten a defensive rebound, they would’ve had possession in a tied game with a chance to make a basket and end it before overtime was needed.

“I’m pissed off we didn’t get a freaking defensive rebound,” Underwood said. “We lose a game like this because we don’t get a damn defensive rebound against a team that’s hungry. We’re plenty good enough. We are plenty good enough. But the missed free throws and the defensive rebounding, that’s the stuff that just burns my rear end.”

Missed shots create more holes in already sinking boat

The shots did not fall in the second half for Illinois whatsoever, and that, along with their defensive struggles, sunk them. The Illini shot just 29.6% from the field and were just 3 of 18 from deep. Underwood was fine with his team’s shot selection, but the rim seemed to reject every attempt that the Illini put up.

“You’ve seen us all year – are any of those shots we haven’t taken all year?” Underwood said. “I can’t fault any of them. … I mean Ben made them all in the first half. Second half those were all the same shots, and (junior center Tomislav Ivišić) got good looks that didn’t go down. That’s the variance of basketball on offense. You don’t rely on it for long periods of time. So, we got to be better defensively is what I’m ticked off about.”

The only positive thing that kept Illinois close on the scoreboard was getting to the charity stripe and finding points there. Wagler led that charge, shooting and making eight free throws in the second half.

“I just knew that I needed to get downhill,” Wagler said. “They were hedging, the bigs were going back, so I knew if I just waited an extra second I could get by, get to the rim and either finish the layup, get to the free throw line or dump it off or kick it out for three.”

Overtime 

Despite Wagler making two key free throws at the end of the second half to tie up the game and send it to overtime, Illinois’ luck did not change in the extra period.

Illinois’ lack of offense combined with UCLA’s defense limited the visitors to just 2 for 9 shooting in overtime, including 0 for 5 from three. Their offensive woes continued, but a missed three that was tipped in by Wagler put the Illini up by one with 4.9 seconds remaining. 

The next play is where it all went wrong for the visitors. After missing a three at the end of regulation that could have won the game, Dent was given a second chance to win it. He’s been a downhill driver all year, not a shooter, and that’s exactly the play Cronin drew up for him.

Dent dribbled up the left side of the court, defended by Wagler, when a screen came at half court that allowed him to blow by the freshman. Junior wing Andrej Stojaković was slow to help, and senior guard Kylan Boswell was running from behind so there was not much he could do. Dent was able to drive into the lane and go up and under Illini junior center Zvonimir Ivišić for the layup. The ball kissed the backboard and rolled in as the buzzer sounded, giving the Bruins a 1-point victory.

“Last play is frustrating,” Underwood said. “The one guy that can beat you beat you. Needed to make him pass, and a couple of our guys got out of the way, and that’s on me. I got to do a better job of working on that situation.”

Dent was mobbed by his teammates as the Bruin student section rushed the hardwood to celebrate UCLA’s second top-10 victory at home this season. They knocked off former No. 4 Purdue just last month in Los Angeles.

“Don’t tell me we’re not capable of it because we did it to Purdue,” Cronin said. “We did it in the second half (against Illinois). We did it in overtime. … You would hope it sends a message to them that if you’re bought in defensively, we got a great chance to win.”

Boswell, Wagler injury updates

In the first half, Wagler left the game with a shoulder injury, but it does not seem to be anything serious.

“When I fell down, I landed, put my hand straight on the floor, and then I just landed and (the shoulder) went straight back,” Wagler said. “It’s kind of just like a stinger. It just hurt in the moment. But then once I got back out there, the adrenaline kicked in. It’s feeling better now.”

Boswell collided with a UCLA defender in the second half and immediately left the floor with his face in a towel, presumably bleeding profusely. He later returned to the game with some dressings over his upper lip area.

“I don’t know much about Keaton other than they said he’s going to have a sore shoulder, and Boswell got stitched up,” Underwood said.

History is made: Wagler breaks Illini freshman scoring record

Despite the loss, Wagler dropped 19 points to bring his season total to 509, which is the new Illinois freshman scoring record. That surpassed the former mark of 494, previously held by both Cory Bradford (1998-99) and Kasparas Jakucionis (2024-25). 

The projected lottery pick in this year’s draft has scored in double figures in all of Illinois’ 17 Big Ten contests this season. Wagler is now averaging 18.2 points across 28 games in his freshman campaign.

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