Donovan Dent had 23 points and 12 assists and Trent Perry scored 22 points to boost UCLA to an 88-84 victory against No. 8 Michigan State in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal Friday in Chicago.
The sixth-seeded Bruins (23-10) advanced to face No. 7 seed Purdue in a semifinal on Saturday.
UCLA held off a late challenge from third-seeded Michigan State while playing short-handed. Bruins starting forward Tyler Bilodeau scored five points in 10 minutes before leaving the game with an injured right leg late in the first half.
Jeremy Fears Jr. paced Michigan State (25-7) with 21 points and 13 assists. After trailing by 15 points with 15:11 remaining, the Spartans pulled within two when Kur Teng drilled a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left.
UCLA scored eight of the final 14 points to seal the victory, including four Perry free throws over the final 12 seconds.
Michigan State was unable to duplicate the dominance from its 23-point home win against UCLA on Feb. 17. The Spartans shot 45.2% compared to 55.6% for the Bruins while committing 12 turnovers.
Carson Cooper and Teng scored 13 points apiece for the Spartans while Coen Carr had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Eric Dailey Jr. had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds for UCLA. Skyy Clark scored 15 points.
UCLA led by as many as 13 points in the first half before taking a 44-33 advantage into halftime.
Dent (12 points) and Perry (10) combined on 8-for-13 shooting for the Bruins in the first 20 minutes. UCLA shot 63% in the first half while Michigan State shot 32.1%.
A fast-paced start helped the Spartans to an early advantage. Leaping in tandem with Cooper, Carr stuffed home an alley-oop feed from Fears for a 9-5 lead at the 16:09 mark.
Ball-control issues sprouted soon after, though. Michigan State had nearly as many turnovers (seven) in the first half as made field goals (nine).
Michigan State fell to 0-4 this season when trailing by double digits at the break.
UCLA edged visiting Purdue 69-67 on Jan. 20 behind Bilodeau’s go-ahead 3-pointer with eight seconds left.
–Field Level Media
