In a matchup pairing legendary John Wooden’s alma mater against the program he coached to 10 national championships, No. 20 Purdue will face UCLA in a Big Ten Conference game in West Lafayette, Ind., on Friday night.
The two programs that the late Wooden is associated with played most recently in December 2000. Friday’s meeting will be their first as league counterparts, and the Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6) and Bruins (20-8, 11-6) are jockeying for position in next month’s Big Ten tournament.
They are tied for fourth place, with Purdue trying to pull out of a recent free-fall.
The Boilermakers squandered a 12-point halftime lead their last time out, losing to rival Indiana 73-58 on Sunday for their fourth straight defeat.
In a snapshot of that stretch, Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer told the Lafayette Journal & Courier that “small, minor mistakes just let it snowball from there” against Indiana.
The disastrous second half against the Hoosiers came after Purdue had lost consecutive games to Top 25 opponents Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
Pulling out of its tailspin before March is not all that is at stake on Friday for Purdue. Despite the slump, the Boilermakers are only one game behind in the win column to Big Ten third-place Wisconsin.
A top-four finish in the league will earn teams an automatic bye to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, which will begin March 12 in Indianapolis.
UCLA likewise is chasing a bye into the quarterfinals. The Bruins suffered a stunning slip-up at home on Feb. 18 vs. Minnesota, 64-61, but bounced back with a 69-61 defeat of visiting Ohio State on Sunday.
“All wins are good wins (in) late February,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.
Eric Dailey Jr.’s 20 points led the Bruins against the Buckeyes and marked a significant rebound for his scoring production. Despite averaging 11.6 points per game — second among all UCLA scorers behind Tyler Bilodeau’s 13.9 ppg — Dailey failed to reach double figures in points in the five previous outings.
“Eric’s got toughness,” Cronin said. “Eric works unbelievably hard; he’s the hardest practicer every day. He’s got mental toughness, he’s not mentally soft, so things don’t bother him.”
Dailey is a key contributor to UCLA’s aggressive defense, which at an average of 64.6 points per game allowed ranks No. 23 nationally. Dailey is averaging 1.3 steals, tied for second on the team with Skyy Clark, behind Kobe Johnson (1.8).
Johnson also averages a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game.
Johnson is likely to draw the matchup with Purdue’s prolific combo guard, Braden Smith, who is averaging 15.8 points and 8.7 assists, the latter second to Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard (9.8) for the national lead.
Smith also has endured some individual struggles amid Purdue’s skid, however, scoring just six and eight points vs. Wisconsin and Indiana, respectively. He also matched his season high for turnovers in the last two outings with six at both Michigan State and Indiana.
In scoring, Trey Kaufman-Renn leads Purdue with an average of 19.2 points a game this season.
–Field Level Media
