As each team looked for the slimmest of leads and UCLA tried to hold on while North Carolina tried to mount a huge comeback, it wasn’t about how much blue was in their blood, it was about how much ice was in their veins.
Needing a basket to avoid a total collapse, the Bruins put the ball in the hands of their most fearless player. Sebastian Mack couldn’t give his team the ending it wanted.
Mack pulled a defender back before his short turnaround jumper was off target with less than a second remaining, sealing the 76-74 defeat of No. 18 UCLA in a CBS Sports Classic game at Madison Square Garden, the Bruins practically gave away after building a 16-point lead midway through the second half.
Read more: How much blue is left in UCLA’s blood after winning one title since John Wooden?
UCLA’s Dylan Andrews put North Carolina in position to come all the way back and end the Bruins’ nine-game winning streak after losing an inbounds pass out of bounds for a turnover with 21 seconds left and the Tar Heels down by one point.
North Carolina’s RJ Davis drove and was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line for the shots that gave the Tar Heels a 75-74 lead with 13.6 seconds left.
Trailing by 16 points midway through the second half, the Tar Heels stormed back after UCLA’s Tyler Bilodeau picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench. By the time he returned, North Carolina trailed by just three points.
Fouls, sloppy play and missed free throws were major culprits for the Bruins (10-2). Skyy Clark missed the front end of two one-on-one situations and Bilodeau missed three of four attempts in the final minutes.
Bilodeau finished with 26 points, most of which came in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Ian Jackson scored 24 points off the bench for North Carolina (7-5), which has won seven straight games in the series.
The Bruins appeared to be on the brink of a runaway victory when Bilodeau nailed a three-pointer – his fifth of the game on as many attempts – to give his team a 59-43 lead. But soon the whistle blew, Bilodeau was called for his fourth foul, and the momentum changed dramatically.
The start of the second half was delayed by several minutes due to the need to clean up some vomit on the track. Both teams went back on a layup line during the delay that resembled pregame drills.
Things deteriorated further for the Bruins 12 seconds into the second half when Eric Dailey Jr. picked up his third foul and went to the bench, never to return.
It looked like Bilodeau was one-of-five early in the game, with the junior forward scoring all of UCLA’s points in the first 5½ minutes. After making two 3-pointers, a turnaround jumper in which he was fouled and a jumper, the scoreboard could have read Bilodeau 11, Tar Heels 9.
A heavy dose of Mack towards the latter part of the first half helped the Bruins build a much bigger lead. Mack’s back-to-back 3-pointers extended UCLA’s lead to 31-18 and he then threw two sweet passes — including a perfect lob — to William Kyle III for dunks.
UCLA’s 40-32 halftime cushion was no bigger as the Bruins kept sending North Carolina to the free-throw line — leading to the Tar Heels making 10 of 16 free throws — and ended the half with 10 turnovers to North Carolina’s 11 .
More misery was in store for the Bruins.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
