LOS ANGELES — The UCLA men's basketball team got an early scoring lift from its bench and played its stingiest defense in 25 years Tuesday night in an 88-43 nonconference victory over Southern Utah at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA (6-1), which led by 23 at the half, came out of the break on a 15-2 run and never relented. The team's 30 forced turnovers were the program's most since forcing 32 against Fairfield on Nov. 23, 1999.

The Bruins, who got a game-high 19 points from reserve guard Lazar Stefanovic, have now scored at least 80 points for a fourth consecutive game and for the fifth time overall this season. Wing Eric Dailey Jr. added 15 points and point guard Dylan Andrews chipped in 11 in the victory.

The Thunderbirds (6-2) were the fifth UCLA opponent to be held to 50 points or fewer. Southern Utah was limited to 35% shooting (14 of 40) and paced by 10 points off the bench from Xavier Sykes.

The Bruins will open Big Ten Conference play next Tuesday when it hosts Washington at 7:30 p.m. It will be the first of two conference games before a trio of marquee neutral-site nonconference games against Arizona (Dec. 14), North Carolina (Dec. 21) and Gonzaga (Dec. 28).

Despite a slow start from the field, UCLA scored nine consecutive points at the tail end of a 19-6 run through the midway point of the opening half.

Southern Utah, like most Bruins opponents early this season, had a tough time taking care of the ball from the outset and had 13 first-half turnovers.

At one point, the Thunderbirds went more than 5 1/2 minutes without a made field goal until Hercy Miller's layup cut the Bruins' lead to 38-16 with 3:51 left in the half.

Stefanovic had 13 first-half points, including makes on all three of his 3-point attempts, to spark UCLA's scoring production en route to a 43-20 halftime lead.

Stefanovic was the lone double-figure scorer in a first half that the Bruins opened just 5 of 19 from the field.

He spearheaded a bench that produced a 50-27 advantage.

The 7-foot-3 sophomore reserve continues to show growth after tying his season high with three blocks.

Mara also pulled down a season-high eight rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, to go with a season-high three assists.

Mara's defensive production over 18 minutes gave him the bulk of the minutes off the bench over fellow big man William Kyle III.

The Bruins dominated in the paint 42-16, had 18 second-chance points on 20 offensive rebounds and owned the glass overall 41-27.

UCLA's 80 shot attempts doubled up Southern Utah's 40 shots.

Starters

PG Dylan Andrews: 11 pts on 5/8 FGs (1/2 3-ptrs), 3 assts, 1 TOs

G Skyy Clark: 4 pts on 2/5 FGs, 2 assts, 3 stls

G Kobe Johnson: 4 pts on 1/6 FGs, 6 rebs, 4 assts, 1 stls

G/F Eric Dailey Jr.: 15 pts on 6/8 FGs (1/2 3-ptrs), 2 rebs, 2 stls

F Tyler Bilodeau: 4 pts on 2/10 FGs, 3 rebs, 1 blk, 1 stl

Bench

G Lazar Stefanovic: 19 pts on 8/12 FGs (3/3 3-ptrs), 5 rebs, 1 stl

G Sebastian Mack: 8 pts on 3/6 FGs (2/3 FTs), 2 rebs, 2 assts, 2 stls

C Aday Mara: 6 pts on 3/6 FGs, 8 rebs, 3 assts, 3 blks, 1 stl