UCLA defeated No. 18 Wisconsin 85-83 on Tuesday night, ending the Badgers’ seven-game winning streak, led by a career-high 22 points from Aday Mara.
The Bruins (13-6, 4-4 Big Ten) had 19 points from Sebastian Mack and 16 from Tyler Bilodeau before Bilodeau fouled out with 1:40 left.
Mack and Mara scored 13 points in a row in the closing minutes. Mara, a sophomore who is 7 feet 3 inches tall, was 8 of 11 at the line and 7 of 7 from the field.
John Tonje led the Badgers (15-4, 5-3) with 24 points, including 6 of 7 3-pointers. 23 points were added by John Blackwell.
With one minute left, Blackwell’s 3-pointer put the Badgers within 81-80.
Mack missed the second, made the first, and was fouled. UCLA reserve William Kyle III stopped Blackwell’s attempt to tie the score in the paint.
Skyy Clark scored two free throws to put the team ahead 84-80 after Blackwell fouled out a few seconds later. With 0.5 seconds remaining, Tonje made a 3-pointer to put Wisconsin behind 84-83 following a timeout. Clark made the first foul and purposefully missed the second as the Badgers were forced to foul.
Takeaways
Wisconsin: Despite having a large number of red-clad supporters at Pauley Pavilion, the Badgers were unable to sweep the Los Angeles schools following their victory over Southern California the previous Saturday.
UCLA: With their second consecutive win, the Bruins increased their home record to 10-1.
Key moment
While the Bruins were scoring six points in a row in the second half, the Badgers went almost five minutes without a field goal and were down by nine points.
Key stat
51% of the shots were made by both teams. The Bruins made 21 of 28 foul throws and the Badgers were 18 of 21 from the free-throw line.
Up next
On Sunday, Wisconsin will host Nebraska. On Friday, UCLA will travel to Washington.