A change in the starting five wasn’t enough for the UCLA men’s basketball team to change its fortunes.
The Bruins lost their fourth consecutive game Monday in a 75-68 loss at Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.
UCLA (11-6, 2-4 Big Ten), which brought struggling point guard Dylan Andrews off the bench, had issues inside after leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau missed all seven of his shot attempts and was limited to six points against the size of Rutgers.
Bruins wing Eric Dailey Jr. and top reserve Sebastian Mack had 16 points apiece to pace UCLA, which shot 42.4% (25 of 59) from the field.
Rutgers (9-8, 2-4 Big Ten) led by as many as nine at the 5:14 mark before UCLA made one last push. A Kobe Johnson 3-pointer cut the Bruins’ deficit with 2:07 left.
The Scarlet Knights went more than five minutes without a made field goal during the stretch. Rutgers got enough separation with a 3-pointer from Ace Bailey and a layup from Jeremiah Williams on consecutive attempts to push the lead back up to 68-63 with 51 seconds left.
Rutgers, which got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Bailey and 18 points from guard Dylan Harper, connected on 21 of 31 free throws.
UCLA led 33-30 at the half, but Rutgers scored the first eight points of the second half and never trailed the rest of the way.
Here’s what Bruins head coach Mick Cronin, Dailey and Mack had to say after the game (video courtesy of UCLA Athletics):