The Bruins may have walked off the court for the final time this season.
No. 2-seeded Arizona State (22-9, 12-6 Pac-12) eliminated No. 7-seeded UCLA men’s basketball (17-16, 9-9) in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament Thursday night, handing the Bruins an 83-72 defeat in Las Vegas.
UCLA kept the contest within arms reach for much of the first half, but let things get out of control in the final 3 minutes, 28 seconds. Arizona State rattled off a 12-0 run fueled by four 3-pointers to take a 16-point advantage into the break.
The Sun Devils extended their lead to as much as 23 points around the 15-minute mark of the second half, but the Bruins responded with a 13-0 run to cut the deficit to 10. From that point on, however, UCLA never came within nine points.
Arizona State finished the night with five different scorers in double figures and shot 49 percent from the floor as a team. The Sun Devils also converted 13 Bruin turnovers into 20 points in comparison to just the 12 points UCLA was able to score on 10 Arizona State miscues.
The Bruins managed to shoot a respectable 45 percent from the field, but only received significant contributions from sophomore guards Jaylen Hands and Kris Wilkes. After the pair combined to shoot just 6-of-17 in the first half, it rebounded to go 11-of-18 in the second half to finish the night with 46 points.
Freshman center Moses Brown – who missed the team’s finale last week due to a suspension – played a team-low 11 minutes in the loss. The 7-footer spent most of the night in foul trouble, finishing with just two points and seven rebounds while not making a single field goal.
UCLA will now await Selection Sunday to see whether or not it will get a bid for the NCAA tournament. Bracketology gives the Bruins just a 6 percent chance at earning an at-large bid, but there is still a possibility UCLA receives an invite to the National Invitation Tournament.
The program has not yet indicated whether it would be open to accepting a bid to the NIT, however.