UCLA men’s basketball zips past Akron in comeback Round of 64 win

This post was updated March 17 at 10:49 p.m.

PORTLAND — Down four with under three minutes to play, the Bruins were on the verge of an upset loss as the ball bounced between teams. 

Finally, Jaime Jaquez Jr. clawed for the ball and grabbed an offensive rebound. Initially going up for a jumper that would have cut the deficit to two, the junior guard/forward spotted Tyger Campbell out of the corner of his eye and zipped a pass to the left corner.

“I saw him wide open, and I knew this guy has got heart,” Jaquez said. “He’s going to make a big shot when we need him to.”

Campbell calmly cashed in on a triple – his second of the game – and made the deficit one.

A possession later, Campbell pulled up from the elbow. Swish. Bruins lead.

“My teammates kept finding me,” Campbell said. “I just was wanting to make a play.”

Finding the ball in his hands again the next possession with the shot clock running down, Campbell knocked in a 3 from way downtown to put his team up four and secure an opening-round victory.

“He worked on that shot for 10 minutes during our shootaround,” said coach Mick Cronin.

Behind eight straight points from Campbell, No. 4 seed UCLA men’s basketball (26-7, 15-5 Pac-12) avoided a late upset bid from No. 13 seed Akron (24-10, 14-6 MAC) on Thursday night, beating the Zips 57-53 at the Moda Center. 

After trailing by as much as eight in the second half, the Bruins closed out the game on an 18-6 run to ensure a second consecutive Round of 32 appearance.

“We stuck it out,” said senior guard Jules Bernard. “That’s the mark of a great team – when you’re battled and you face a challenge and you come out on top.”

After a day full of NCAA Tournament upsets, UCLA was halfway toward being on the wrong end of one after 20 minutes of play. The Bruins entered the halftime locker room with a 26-25 deficit shooting 32% and on pace for their worst scoring performance of the year.  

Jaquez, who watched on the jumbotron as No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s took down No. 2 seed Kentucky prior to UCLA’s contest, said he didn’t want to be the next victim of March Madness.

“We were watching that game thinking to ourselves, ‘That can’t be us tonight,’” Jaquez said. “We just knew we didn’t want to be the ones getting upset tonight. … We’re looking forward to bigger things.”

The Bruins continued to trail for the first four minutes of the final frame before Jaquez powered in a transition layup through contact to give him a three-point play heading into the under-16 media timeout, tying the game at 32 apiece.

A 3-pointer from freshman guard/forward Peyton Watson gave the blue and gold its first advantage of the second half at 37-36, and the freshman would follow it up with a jumper minutes later to again give UCLA a one-point lead.

“Peyton had some great minutes,” Cronin said. “He infused energy into our team, which we needed.”

That lead would be short-lived though, as Akron guard Xavier Castaneda knocked in a pair of triples before guard Greg Tribble powered past redshirt senior forward Cody Riley for an and-1 layup to make it 47-39. The eight points tied for the largest lead of the game from either side.

Despite the deficit, Bernard said his team remained calm.

“We didn’t panic,” he said. “We’ve been in these positions before.”

Bernard followed up Tribble’s and-1 free throw with a 3, and minutes later knocked in a second-chance triple from the right corner to put his team within four at the under-four media timeout. 

“The biggest shot of the game was Jules’ 3 in the corner,” Cronin said. “We were struggling. That was a big-time shot.”

From there, UCLA outscored Akron 12-4, a stretch highlighted by Campbell’s heroics that advanced the Bruins to the Round of 32.

Campbell paced the blue and gold with 16 points while adding five assists in a team-high 38 minutes. Jaquez was next with 15 points, and Bernard also cracked double figures with 10.

“I didn’t really get excited until I got back to the locker room,” Campbell said. “Just knowing that we won and we left this gym with a win.”

UCLA will now play No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s on Saturday with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.