Freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis scored 24 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as Illinois snapped UCLA’s seven-game winning streak with an 83-78 Big Ten victory Tuesday night in Champaign, Ill.
Jakucionis, one of 20 players named Tuesday to the John Wooden Award late midseason watch list, scored 17 in the second half as the Illini (17-8, 9-6 Big Ten) never trailed but saw their 16-point lead with five minutes left dwindle to two with 0:28 to play.
Tomislav Ivisic added 16 points while Kylan Boswell scored all 11 of his points in the second half, which included two clinching free throws with 4.2 seconds left. Illinois, which leads the nation with its plus-11.3 rebounding margin, outrebounded UCLA 36-23.
Tyler Bilodeau canned seven 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 25 points for UCLA (18-7, 9-5). Kobe Johnson posted 14 points despite foul trouble, and Sebastian Mack added 11 off the bench.
Illinois broke out to a 26-13 lead that forced UCLA to burn two timeouts to figure things out. Bilodeau swished two 3-pointers to fuel a 12-3 run over the final 5:20 of the first half that pulled the Bruins within 31-25 at the break.
Every time Illinois tried to pull away in the second half, UCLA would jump right back into the game.
Six minutes into the second half, UCLA pulled within 45-40 on Mack’s circus-shot layup over the 7-foot-2 Ivisic while getting knocked to the floor. Mack missed the subsequent free throw, then was called for fouling Ivisic on what UCLA believed to be a clean steal.
Illinois answered with Morez Johnson Jr.’s putback dunk after he discarded slender Aday Mara in the paint. Then UCLA coach Mick Cronin, irked over the Mack call and Mara non-call, was whistled for a technical as the teams headed upcourt. Boswell cashed the technical free throws to boost Illinois’ lead to 49-40.
After Bilodeau canned his fifth 3-pointer to bring UCLA within 58-51, Ivisic answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and Jakucionis slashed for a layup to push Illinois’ lead to 66-51 with 7:34 to go.
Illinois seized a 76-60 advantage on Ben Humrichous’ 3-pointer with 4:51 to go, but UCLA reeled off 13 straight points. Johnson hit two 3-pointers during the run and William Kyle III’s dunk with 1:08 left got the Bruins within 76-73.
Jakucionis stopped the run with a stepback 20-footer, but ex-Illini Skyy Clark, who was heckled much of the night, answered with a 3-pointer to get UCLA within two points for the first time since the opening three minutes.
Illinois cracked UCLA’s full-court pressure to get Ivisic an uncontested dunk, then the Illini went 3-for-4 at the free-throw line to clinch the win.
–Field Level Media
