Bruin bodies swarmed the backcourt from the opening tip.

With contests against Maryland and Kentucky on the horizon, the blue and gold had one home matchup before its East Coast trip – and its defense was holding down the fort.

Even when its offense seemed to waver in the first half, No. 19 UCLA men’s basketball’s (8-2, 2-0 Pac-12) defense slowed down Denver (8-3) just enough en route to a 87-64 victory Saturday afternoon. Routinely guarding their opponents 94 feet from the basket, the Bruins forced a season-high 23 turnovers and limited the Pioneers to more than 15 points below their season average.

The blue and gold’s full-court effort was rewarded with a 16-4 start, its best of the season. But even with the defense clicking, the offense seemed stagnant. A stretch of three straight missed shots in the paint precipitated a 7-0 Pioneer run, and the signs of a trap game began to surface.

With UCLA’s offense stalled, the spectators in Pauley Pavilion were kept to a murmur and redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell – the team’s veteran leader – tied for a team-low -2 plus/minus in the first half.

Looking for answers, coach Mick Cronin ran through his lineup early. Redshirt freshman guard Will McClendon was first off the bench in his second game back from injury. Freshman guard Dylan Andrews, fifth-year guard David Singleton, freshman guard/forward Abramo Canka, and redshirt senior forward/center Kenneth Nwuba saw the court less than eight minutes in.

Cronin said he sought a change in momentum by reaching into his bench.

“I was really unhappy with our energy,” Cronin said. “When the shots don’t go in, we’ve got to rebound the ball and then our leaders … can’t look like they lost their dog when their shot don’t go in. You’ve got to go play harder, which is what Dylan and Dave do.”

As the threat of a Denver comeback crept up, UCLA’s offense continued its slow start with seven consecutive misses at one point in the opening frame. The Pioneers would cut the lead all the way down to four, and faced only a seven-point deficit by the end of the half.

But even as Denver’s offense showed signs of life, UCLA’s defense stomped the energy out of its opponents in the second half. After Bruin bodies stifled the backcourt to start the contest, it swarmed the frontcourt to end it.

“Our defense just changed,” Andrews said. “We started hawking the point guard, No. 0 (Denver guard Tommy Bruner), who was like the head of the snake. … We started speeding them up, they started turning the ball over and we started capitalizing off of that.”

Bruner coughed up the ball twice and recorded a -16 plus/minus in the second half, while Andrews lit up for 11 points and six assists in the contest, both career-highs for the freshman point guard.

The offense changed, too, and UCLA raced out to a 17-0 run in the second half. Jaquez and freshman forward Adem Bona found the bottom of the net multiple times, and a pair of fast break dunks from junior guard Jaylen Clark reignited the crowd during the scoring outburst.

The Pioneers missed eight straight shots and picked up five turnovers to start the second period. Clark recorded four steals, his most in a game in nearly a month. The junior guard churned out a season-high 24 points, the majority of which came in the second half in his team’s 23-point victory.

With the lofty goal of eclipsing the team’s single-season steals record in the background, Clark said he’s returning to form after the flu sidelined him in late November.

“I’m trying to get back on pace,” Clark said. “I don’t know where I’m at right now. But yeah, I’m trying to get back on pace to set a steals record.”

Jaquez provided a steady stream on both ends as well, tallying 18 points to go with two blocks and a steal.