{"id":2733,"date":"2026-02-14T20:53:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2733"},"modified":"2026-02-14T20:53:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:53:43","slug":"ucla-michigan-basketball-takeaways-from-big-ten-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2733","title":{"rendered":"UCLA-Michigan basketball takeaways from Big Ten game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F02%2FUCLA-Michigan.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 They weren\u2019t half bad.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for the UCLA Bruins, games last 40 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>After nearly matching second-ranked Michigan in the opening 20 minutes, the Bruins went splat over the latter half of what they hoped would be a showcase game.<\/p>\n<p>What everyone watching on national television saw, at least in the second half, wasn\u2019t flattering.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>UCLA guard Trent Perry gestures. <span class=\"credit\">IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Bruins couldn\u2019t sustain the toughness they displayed early in falling, 86-56, Saturday at the Crisler Center to end a modest two-game winning streak.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>UCLA lost most of the huge edge in rebounding it had built and couldn\u2019t get nearly enough stops, the Wolverines making 11 of 12 shots at one point.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/13\/sports\/ucla-basketball-might-have-regretful-reunion-when-it-faces-aday-mara\/\">Aday Mara tortured his old team with a slew of plays<\/a> that had the sellout crowd buzzing. On the game\u2019s first possession, he threw a behind-the-back pass along the baseline to Morez Johnson Jr. for a layup. Mara added a reverse dunk off a lob in the second half as the Wolverines eventually surged ahead by as many as 30 points.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter aligncenter inline-module--nypostbusinessunit aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-newsletter\" data-source-unit=\"Inline Newsletter Module Cali - Morning Report\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__title-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__unsubmitted-title-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was difficult to remember that the Bruins (17-8, 9-5 Big Ten) had trailed only 40-38 at halftime after outrebounding the Wolverines (24-1, 14-1) by 10 and making 5 of 11 3-pointers.<\/p>\n<p>None of those trends held up, the Bruins shooting 25.9% and making only 1 of 10 3s while getting outrebounded by 11 after halftime.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>UCLA guard Skyy Clark. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The return of guard Skyy Clark after a 10-game absence was one of few encouraging developments for the Bruins. Clark finished with eight points in 16 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t nearly enough.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does it mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was a failed opportunity for UCLA to notch a victory that would get the NCAA Tournament selection committee\u2019s attention after beating Purdue at home late last month. Other attempts against Arizona and Gonzaga had also fallen short, leaving the Bruins in bubble territory entering the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>They desperately need to get at least one more Quad 1 victory \u2013 preferably two \u2013 to avoid sweating it out on Selection Sunday.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCaliforniaPost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@CaliforniaPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@thecaliforniapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/capostsports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/capostsports\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CaliforniaPostSports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Opinion<\/a> <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/email.nypost.com\/#california-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Download here!<\/a><br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.californiapost.com\/defaultCAP\">Sign up here!<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/><\/a><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/hollywood-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Turning point<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Bruins had two chances to go ahead early in the second half, but Xavier Booker missed a pair of 3-pointers. It was a huge opportunity lost.<\/p>\n<p>Mara then fed Nemari Burnett for a 3-pointer, sparking a 19-7 run for Michigan in which it made eight straight shots \u2013 including three 3-pointers. That gave the Wolverines a 59-45 lead with 12:27 left, essentially ending UCLA\u2019s hopes of pulling off the massive upset.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Michigan center Aday Mara. <span class=\"credit\">Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>MVP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As expected, UCLA had big problems with Michigan\u2019s massive front line.<\/p>\n<p>Many came against the player who spent his first two seasons as a Bruin.<\/p>\n<p>Mara kept finding ways to punish the team he left, his highlight reel also including a lob to Johnson for a dunk in the game\u2019s final minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Mara finished with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks, each one reminding the Bruins what they\u2019re missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Up next<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t get any easier for the Bruins, who will face No. 10 Michigan State on Tuesday at the Breslin Center. Then they\u2019ll come home to play No. 8 Illinois on Feb. 21, ending their most brutal stretch of the regular season.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/14\/sports\/ucla-michigan-basketball-takeaways-from-big-ten-game\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 They weren\u2019t half bad. Unfortunately for the UCLA Bruins, games last 40 minutes. After nearly matching second-ranked Michigan in the opening 20&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}