Penn State men’s basketball (9-8, 0-6 Big Ten) lost to UCLA (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) 71-60 in the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday night.

A competitive, defensive first half ended in a scoreless disaster for the Nittany Lions, who didn’t score for almost the entire last 6:30 of the opening frame. Despite the setback, Penn State came out firing in the second half. It kept pace with the Bruins until another scoreless drought doomed Mike Rhoades’ squad to its sixth-consecutive Big Ten loss.

How It Happened

Mike Rhoades rolled with the starting lineup of Freddie Dilione V, Ivan Jurić, Dominick Stewart, Eli Rice, and Josh Reed. Jurić won the tip, but Penn State failed to score on its opening possession.

After a swift stop on UCLA, Jurić slammed it down for the first points of the game.

CLEAR THE LANE!pic.twitter.com/kuCOkpo4qa

— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 15, 2026

Xavier Booker let one fly from the corner and missed. Eric Dailey Jr. snagged the board in the paint, drew the foul, and sank two free throws to tie the game.

Stewart pushed through contact for a quick jumper. Dilione shot a horrid three from the corner on a quick release. The Nittany Lions continued to play tough defense on the Bruins, resulting in another easy score for Jurić on the other end. Dailey soared the ball out of bounds on UCLA’s subsequent possession.

Stewart fed Melih Tunca beyond the arc, but his shot roamed wide right. Jurić fought three Bruins for the rebound before the first media timeout. UCLA faced a 2:38 scoring drought through just over four minutes of play.

Tunca hit a backstep move for a deep two, but met the back iron. Eric Freeny hit a three to make it a 6-7 ball game in UCLA’s favor. Jurić tried to return the favor, but bricked the shot.

Mason Blackwood made some swift moves in the paint for a calm finger-roll layup. The Nittany Lions forced a Bruin airball from deep before giving up two points from Perry in the paint. Rice connected on a fadeaway to keep pace.

Brandon Williams cleaned up a Perry miss from three for another easy putback. Rice continued trying his hot hand and coined three points to tie the game at 13.

Dilione found Rice wide-open in the lane for the easiest bucket of the game off the inbound and the lead. Stewart went up for a block on Tyler Bilodeau towards the cup, but was called for a foul after making heavy contact. Bilodeau hit both foul shots.

Stewart faked out Perry for a calm jumper. Dailey traveled to send the game into a media timeout tied at 17 with 7:35 remaining in the first half.

Reed capitalized on a UCLA turnover with a quick score in the paint. Stewart forced the ball out of bounds off Jamar Brown’s body. Stewart tried a shot from the top of the key with three seconds left on the shot clock, but met nothing but rim.

Dilione fell on UCLA’s ensuing possession and looked like he was in considerable pain. Rhoades and a Penn State trainer came out, and Dilione walked off the court mostly under his own power.

The Bruins snatched the lead back with three points from Bilodeau. Tunca tossed a high pass to Jurić in the paint, but he couldn’t lead the ball into the cup.

Freeny connected from deep to push UCLA up six points and boost the Bruins to a 10-0 scoring run. Jurić lost the ball in the paint, which the Bruins took advantage of with a layup from Steven Jamerson II.

Tunca couldn’t find a way to maneuver around Jamerson in coverage from the top of the key, traveling in the process to create Penn State’s fourth turnover in the previous five minutes of play. Tunca airballed on a fadeaway and drew the foul, adding two points before the break to snap Penn State’s over six-minute scoring drought. UCLA led 29-23 at the half.

Tunca hit a corner three-pointer to open the second half and bring the Nittany Lions within three. Reed floated one in to bring the deficit to one before Bilodeau returned the favor.

Both squads exchanged treys to further kickstart the second half. Reed continued his hot hand with another floater despite back-to-back UCLA scores. Donovan Dent hit the back iron on a mid-ranger and fouled Reed, sending him to the line following the media timeout. He made both shots from the stripe.

Dent fed Perry for a quick three. Jurić missed Rice on a pass near Penn State’s bench, handing the ball right back to the Bruins.

Bilodeau doubled up on UCLA’s three-point streak despite Blackwood’s fierce attempt to close out. Jurić responded with a quick score in the paint, but Bilodeau collected a three-point play as he became UCLA’s leading scorer on the night.

Stewart finessed a left-handed layup and picked out Blackwood on a breakaway to teeter momentum slightly back in Penn State’s favor. Bilodeau traveled, gifting Penn State possession and a stellar three from Stewart to reclaim the lead. Bilodeau made up for his mistake with a three of his own to send UCLA back up by one point.

Perry ended a whirlwind UCLA possession with a two-point shot. He sank his third triple of the night on his way to the ground following another failed Penn State possession. Bilodeau snuck another three in with a lucky bounce as the Bruins went up by eight points with 7:48 left in the contest.

Blackwood funneled a pass to Reed in the paint, but the senior couldn’t reel it in. Perry drained two foul shots to elevate UCLA’s lead back to eight.

Stewart tried his hand from three, but the shot didn’t fall. Perry cashed in from beyond the arc once more as Penn State rattled off two consecutive misses from deep and drew its scoring drought over three minutes. UCLA went up by double digits.

Neither team could break through for a score as the Bruins faced a scoreless drought of their own heading into the final two minutes, and the Bryce Jordan Center emptied out. Bilodeau launched a deep three to no avail.

Takeaways

• Penn State cannot expect to win when it goes embarrassingly cold at any point in the game. UCLA ended the first half on a 12-0 run until Melih Tunca’s two free throws with two seconds left. Penn State rode a 6:29 scoreless drought and 6:31 with no field goals to conclude the half. If Penn State managed to stay consistent and snap its massive droughts, the Nittany Lions could have escaped with at least one Big Ten win so far in 2025-26.
• Both squads played an extremely defensive first half. Both forced long scoring droughts on one another and shot 17-of-46 from the field combined in the opening 20 minutes. The halftime score only sat at 29-23 in UCLA’s favor. The Nittany Lions and Bruins came out sizzling in the second half, going 23-of-47 from the field to close out the game. It was still Penn State’s lowest-scoring game of the season thus far.
• Another horrendous rebounding performance from the Nittany Lions led to another loss. UCLA out-rebounded Penn State 32 to 21. The Bruins also totaled 19 second-chance points to the Nittany Lions’ four. Not ideal.

What’s Next?

Penn State heads to College Park, Maryland, to take on the Terrapins at noon on Sunday, January 18, in the XFINITY Center. Folks can watch the game on the Big Ten Network.