LOS ANGELES — What looked like an imminent crowning achievement for UCLA men's basketball head coach Mick Cronin turned into a sudden collapse over the last 4 1/2 minutes Tuesday night against Minnesota.

The Bruins, who led for nearly all of the first 39 minutes, blew a 17-point lead and missed 10 second-half free throws in a 64-61 loss to the Golden Gophers at Pauley Pavilion.

The loss denied Cronin his 500th career victory, but he was more upset about his team's lack of toughness and focus "on the wrong stuff” — particularly, prioritizing its shot attempts over its defense.

UCLA (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten), which entered with victories in eight of last nine games, were just 9 of 19 at the line -- including its last six attempts over the final 8 minutes, 12 seconds. Among them was a pair of misses each from forward Tyler Bilodeau and wing Eric Dailey Jr., both with the Bruins clinging to a one-point lead over the final 1:25.

Minnesota (14-12, 6-9 Big Ten), which has won three of its last four, got a pair of driving layups from Lu'cye Patterson following both instances. His uncontested drive with eight seconds remaining gave the Gophers just their second lead of the contest, 62-61.

On the next possession, Patterson then drew a charge against UCLA reserve guard Sebastian Mack inside the free-throw line on a drive down the right side with 1.7 seconds left to send fans toward the exits.

Patterson finished with 11 points and was one three double-figure scorers for Minnesota. Forward Dawson Garcia scored 27 of his game-high 32 points in the second half and guard Mike Mitchell Jr. added 14.

Mack led the Bruins with 13 points and Bilodeau and Kobe Johnson had 12 apiece.

The Bruins steadily built a 29-12 lead to open the contest with the help of eight early Gophers turnovers.

UCLA made it difficult for Minnesota just to find a shot, forcing three shot-clock violations through the first 14 1/2 minutes.

The Bruins, who led by 11 at the half, had their lead cut to 36-33 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Garcia and Mitchell and a layup by reserve Frank Mitchell.

It was the first of five occasions the Gophers pulled within a possession, but UCLA was still able to build its lead back up to eight three times. The last was on a Skyy Clark steal and fastbreak layup to cap a 7-2 run and push the lead to 57-49 at the 4:18 mark.

Garcia immediately answered with nine points on four free throws sandwiched between a layup and a made 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 59-58 with 2:05 remaining.

After Bilodeau's two missed free throws, Patterson finally gave Minnesota its first lead of the game, 60-59, with 1:02 left.

UCLA responded with a Mack layup followed by a Patterson missed 3-pointer, but after securing the defensive rebound Dailey was unable to tack onto the lead with free-throw attempts with 17 seconds remaining.

Johnson was among UCLA's more efficient performers, finishing 5 of 9 from the field and 2 of 3 from long range.

Johnson's turnaround jump shot with 2:36 left bumped the Bruins' dwindling lead back up to 59-55 before the disastrous finish.

Johnson also had a pair of steals and helped UCLA force 16 turnovers for 23 points off the miscues.

Aside from the obvious struggles at the line, the Bruins' inability to contain Garcia in the second half and deny Patterson down the stretch largely contributed to the result.

Garcia, who was 2 of 5 in the first half, finished 9 of 15 from the field and 11 of 12 on free throws.

UCLA was never able to shake off Minnesota when it was on the brink of restoring a double-digit advantage prior to the final four minutes.

Mack had three of the Bruins' nine turnovers, with his bulldozer-like drives mostly ending in either a made layup or lost possession.