MADISON, Wis. — Could a team find itself in a slump just a few games into conference play?
UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a larger downward trend.
Without one of their best players and defenseman Sky Clark out with a hamstring injury, the Bruins were also deficient in many other areas.
Protection. Heart. Strength. Cohesion. Intelligence.
In a game the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have a realistic shot at being among the Big Ten's elite, they fell short again.
Another terrible first half led to another poor comeback for UCLA. loss with a score of 80-72 on Tuesday night at Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins searching for answers that seem elusive.
There was an altercation with 10 seconds left when UCLA's Eric Daley Jr. shoved Wisconsin's Nolan Winter after a hard foul, causing a crowd of players to gather along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant foul and Daly was assessed a technical foul, which was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.
The only thing to celebrate for the Bruins is that they didn't give up.
Thanks to a flurry of baskets by Daly and a 3-pointer from Trent Perry that snapped his team's 0-for-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled within 63-56 midway through the second half. What made the Bruins' victory even more incredible was that most of it came on the bench, where leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau committed four fouls.
But Wisconsin responded with five straight points, and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never created another threat on the way to a second defeat in a row.
Daly scored 18 points but missed all five of his 3-pointers, matching a team that made just one of its 17 shots (5.9%) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry 15.
Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won largely on 3-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.
UCLA put on a stunning and challenging defensive performance, as if it was trying to top its terrible first-half performance against Iowa three days earlier.
It didn't help that the Bruins were shorthanded due to the tip-off.
With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and switched to a smaller lineup with forward Brandon Williams along with Bilodeau in the big man roles.
In the first 10 minutes, it looked like a repeat of Wisconsin's resounding win over UCLA during the Big Ten Tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 3-pointers en route to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin kept changing his lineup to try to find a winning combination.
It never came.
He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for just over a minute before yanking him after Jamerson fouled out. He started backup guard Jamar Brown and took him out of the game after Brown gave up a basket and fumbled out of bounds on a turnover. Backup guard Eric Freeney also got his chance and hit a 3-pointer.
Wisconsin jumped out to a 13-0 lead and nearly matched it with a separate 11-0 spurt. The Bruins then lost Perry for the rest of the first half after he hit his chin while diving for a loose ball, pounding the court with a clenched fist in frustration before holding a towel tightly to his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half wearing a heavy bandage.)
Just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half, and the Bruins were unable to box out Wisconsin's Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was fouled on another putback attempt.
UCLA seemed almost lucky to be down just 45-31 at the midway point, although the pace to give up 90 points was hard to please a coach known for his guards.
Another unsuccessful comeback did not improve the situation.
