The UCLA has routed the Wisconsin in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament

If it was a training test for the NCAA tournament, then UCLA Leave half of the empty responses and stained its fingerprints on the rest.

The best note that Bruins could hope, given the way they played on Friday against Wisconsin n ° 18, was incomplete. This is because they barely presented themselves.

They had a hard time defending the screens. They were slow to close the three points. Twice, when they finally did it, they made mistakes leading to four -point games.

A few days after the UCLA coach Mick Cronin suggested that he was In conflict on a deep race In the Big Ten tournament, his players showed that they had no reserves. They played as if they were ready to go home and sleeping in their own beds as soon as possible.

Their dreams could be dotted with visions of the Wisconsin making more than three points after the badgers of the fifth seeded shivered the bruins of the fourth seeded in the long term during a Route 86-70 In the quarter -final at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“We kissed the ass,” said Cronin. “It’s the title.”

The badgers (25-8) made 19 of the 32 three points (59.4%) by advancing to play Michigan State of the seeded in a semi-final on Saturday. John Tonje was a perfect six for six beyond the arc and nine for 10 in total by scoring 26 points. The 19 three points of Wisconsin were an opponent’s record for the UCLA in regulation.

Meanwhile, the Bruins (22-10) had trouble making shots from the inside or outside the arc, letting them contemplate where they could be sown for the NCAA tournament. The UCLA entered the day as a seeded n ° 6 on Bracketmatrix.com, which brings together the projections of the NCAA tournament, but its prospects to stay relatively near their home could have taken a major success.

Bruins can only hope that they will not be placed in the same region with badgers, who have made 54.8% of their three points in two games against the UCLA this season.

Recognizing that it was a bad match for his team, on the basis of the sports limitations that prevented the Bruins from defending the perimeter at a high level, Cronin said that he had warned his players to avoid the desire to try to match the three -point three -point three -point badgers.

“We have taken the miserably bait today,” said Cronin.

The five UCLA starters combined 30 points on 27.5% shooting, with the second year Eric Dailey Jr. Go aimlessly while missing the six shots. Sebastian MackThe 18 points on the bench were not sufficient for a team that made 32.4% of its shots and 30% of its three points.

“I would just say that they struck us in the mouth first, roughly,” said leader Dylan Andrews in a moderate locker room. “I didn’t feel like I was ready to play.”

Cronin rocked its programming to start the second half, going with reserves Mack, Trent Perry and William Kyle III alongside the regulars Skyy Clark and Kobe Johnson (14 points). The Bruins drove seven consecutive points before the Wisconsin bypass with his second four -point game after Johnson committed John Blackwell (18 points) on a three -point pointer.

“All around, defensively, we were not very good,” said UCLA striker Tyler Bilodeau, who scored two points on a seven shot. “And we did not get together to get what we wanted in attack and they continued to ride.”

The UCLA arrived here a little torn apart by its best path forward. Should Bruins try to win the tournament and win a protected seed in the NCAA tournament, reducing the travel burden on a tired travel team across the country? Or should they lose as quickly as possible so that they can go home and stay rested for the only tournament that really counts?

The answer was almost immediately to come.

In a sign of the pain to come for the UCLA, the Wisconsin group played “Tusk” – an essential from its USC counterpart – in an avant -match trail company.

Then the badgers began a conquest of the Bruins by making seven of their first eight three points on the way to the construction of a 10 -point lead. It would have been eight of the nine had a three -point pointer from Xavier Amos who did not drive on the rim after seeing that he was going to descend.

“We were out of character,” said Johnson. “Just bad defensive mistakes.”

On a game, Mack fell out of position while trying to defend Tonje beyond the arc. After finding his foot, Mack pushed towards Tonje, only to commit a fault that led to a game of four points.

A deep dive in records was necessary after the badgers made 12 of the 19 three points (63.2%) on the way to the construction of an advance of 48-29 at halftime. It was better than the Wisconsin at 50% long -term shooting when these teams met almost two months ago.

What was the biggest UCLA problem in the defense of the perimeter?

Bilodeau said: “I think that when we went under a few screens, we were late for a few guys. They were driving, we will help and they would boot him to an open guy. »»

Said Johnson: “Not enough rotation, without having a hand on the shooters, we were just out of character and we have to come back to what brought us here.”

The Wisconsin had awakened a sleeping giant on the UCLA list this end of January at the Pauley Pavilion. Dominating badgers in a revolutionary performance, the second year center Aday Mara made the seven shots on the path of a 22 -point career summit in what was at the time a summit of 21 minutes.

Mack was just as irritating to the Wisconsin at this meeting, marking 15 of his 19 points in one touch during the last 10 minutes of the game on a range of records to the basket. The Bruins granted 83 points and won, a first for the Cronin team with a defensive spirit during their six seasons in Westwood.

None of these trends had 2 and a half months halfway across the country. Mara launched some pretty lobs but had only four points in 11 quiet minutes. The Mack points dam came with its team already down. And the Bruins have abandoned even more points in an eruption defeat.

If there was a call for awakening entering the NCAA tournament, he just left the ears of the Bruins.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.