It all felt strange, uncomfortable, and all too familiar.
UCLA, a team that’s usually careful with the ball, had a lot of turnovers. They missed free throws and went through a long scoring drought.
What had been a comfortable lead for UCLA against Indiana on Friday night quickly shrank to just two points, and the game, which had gone from a comfortable lead to a possible collapse, was headed in the wrong direction again for the Bruins.
With just 4.2 seconds left, Dylan Andrews stepped back up to the free-throw line. He had already missed two one-and-one attempts earlier, losing up to four points, which felt like a repeat of the Bruins’ tough loss to North Carolina in December.
As Andrews got ready for his free throws, he took a deep breath, dribbled twice, and spun the ball in his hands. He made the first one. Then he made the second.
About 30 minutes later, while standing in a hallway inside Assembly Hall, Andrews was talking about the free throws that helped his team secure a 72-68 win. He could only say a few words before being interrupted by UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond.
“Big-time right there,” Jarmond said as he patted Andrews on the shoulder.
Bruins coach Mick Cronin also praised him, as his team had committed nine of its 11 turnovers in the second half and barely survived a missed three-pointer from Mackenzie Mgbako that could have given Indiana the lead with six seconds left.
“He’s a great kid,” Cronin said with a smile, “and he really cares about his coach and he didn’t want to see me go to the hospital.”
How did Andrews make those free throws after missing?
“At the end of the day, you know you’re not going to make every shot,” Andrews said, “so you’ve got to stay confident, you’ve got to stay poised and the team needed it.”
UCLA (19-7 overall, 10-5 Big Ten) really needed those points, both for NCAA tournament seeding and to show they could win in Big Ten country. They pulled through despite guard Sebastian Mack missing the first part of a one-and-one with 1:18 left. During the same play, he was fouled and then earned a technical foul for elbowing Indiana’s Anthony Leal in the face.
“We kept our head down and we still fought,” Mack said after his team almost lost a seven-point lead in the last 78 seconds, “and that’s why we were victorious.”
UCLA’s first win in a Big Ten arena was a statement, showing that there’s still a lot of work left if they want to make a deep postseason run.
Here are some things Bruins coach Mick Cronin needs to think about: Should center Aday Mara (eight points, five rebounds, and two blocks in just 13 minutes) have played more in the second half after recovering from a suspected case of norovirus? Did freshman guard Trent Perry earn more playing time after possibly having his best performance of the season, including a key block of Myles Rice’s jumper with 1:57 left?
“Every game, I’m the same,” Cronin said. “We try to win, then we evaluate the film — what do we need to do to get better? Because for us, it’s about the NCAA tournament. That’s just the way it is.”
Cronin said he played Mara less because Indiana (15-11, 6-9) went small, but their comeback was partly fueled by inside baskets that Mara could have contested, given his 7-foot-3 frame.
The Bruins were up by two when Mack missed a driving layup. His teammate Skyy Clark briefly grabbed the rebound but was quickly double-teamed by two Indiana players, forcing a jump ball that went to the Hoosiers.
Rice missed a jumper, and Mgbako missed a putback before the ball went out of bounds to the Hoosiers with nine seconds left. Mgbako came off a screen, got open, and attempted a three-pointer, but missed. Andrews grabbed the important rebound and was fouled, sending him back to the free-throw line.
Forward Tyler Bilodeau led UCLA with 12 points, and Clark added 11. Guard Luke Goode scored 16 points to lead the Hoosiers, who have now lost eight of their last 10 games.
This will be coach Mike Woodson’s final season after he recently announced his departure
When asked about being a potential candidate for Woodson’s job, Cronin joked about fans’ fickleness, saying, “Here’s how I look at that stuff: I might be on your hot boards and they might want my ass fired on our hot boards. That’s how I look at that, so I stay off the hot boards. That’s just the way it is — you can go from one board to the other real quick, hired and fired, you know what I’m saying?”
For the Bruins, playing their first game in this iconic arena had been on their minds for a long time.
About a month ago, during Big Ten media day just outside Chicago, Andrews and Kobe Johnson were already in sync on one thing: which arena they were most excited to play in.
Johnson glanced at his teammate, then said, “You want to say it at the same time?” Andrews answered, “Assembly Hall.”
If there was a part of the game that showed what the Andrews experience has been like during this up-and-down season, it came in the final minutes.
In the middle of the second half, he made a smart pass to Johnson for a layup, then hit a three-pointer that gave the Bruins a double-digit lead.
But then came the tough part. The offense kept turning the ball over and went almost three minutes without scoring. Then, Andrews missed a free throw on the first part of a one-and-one.
Redemption came when his team was on the edge of trouble, and Andrews kept believing in himself.
“I knew for a fact,” he said, “that if I got another shot to shoot free throws, that I was going to make it.”
