This post was updated Jan. 13 at 12: a.m.

For more than four minutes of play, the Bruins could not find the bottom of the basket.

They came out of the gates with four straight misses, coughing the ball up twice for good measure.

Yet the blue and gold found itself down just 4-0, as its opponents could not find a way to hang onto the ball – a trend that would persist all night.

No. 7 UCLA men’s basketball (15-2, 6-0 Pac-12) quickly shook off its slow start to retake the lead for good, defeating Utah (12-6, 5-2) at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night by a score of 68-49. The blue and gold tied a season low in points allowed while forcing 16 turnovers from the visiting team and hauling in 14-of-40 rebounds on the offensive end.

“I knew they were going to try to take their time and shorten the game on offense,” said coach Mick Cronin. “Once we were able to start scoring, … we were able to start picking up our pressure, and our defensive effort took over.”

The Utes got on the scoreboard first with a layup off a turnover, while the Bruins were unable to do so until fifth-year guard David Singleton converted a layup of his own almost four minutes later. 

Freshman forward Adem Bona kept things going with three consecutive shots inside, while a steal and 3-pointer from junior guard Jaylen Clark capped an 11-0 run to put the blue and gold up seven early. 

“That was kind of the boost we needed,” Bona said. “It’s a team effort. It wasn’t just me. We all did it together, and I was the open man. I was the one who got the buckets.”

After getting subbed out for two minutes, Bona picked up right where he left off with two dunks off pick and rolls before hauling in a miss from Singleton and finding redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell for his second 3 of the night. Campbell extended the lead to 26-15 with another long-range bomb a minute later, though Utah answered every bucket from then on to keep its deficit at 31-22 heading into halftime.

“My big thing is I’m a patient player,” Campbell said. “They kept over-helping, so I just shot it in.”

Bona continued his surge with 10 points in the first half on 5-of-5 shooting, tacking on six rebounds and an assist. Campbell led the way with 11 points, including three makes from downtown, though the Bruins recorded their second-lowest first-half scoring total of the season.

Cronin said Bona has made huge strides since the start of the season, emerging as an integral piece of the team on both ends of the floor.

“He’s a young kid. He’s an elite athlete, has tremendous explosiveness, a great attitude,” Cronin said. “Adem’s really basketball-intelligent, and he’s only a freshman, so the guy’s obviously an NBA player.”

On the defensive end, UCLA held its opponent – missing its top scorer and rebounder in center Branden Carlson – to 9-of-22 shooting from the floor while turning 10 forced turnovers into 10 points. 

Held scoreless in the first half, senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. got on the board with a 3-pointer early in the second. Clark’s third steal on the night gave him an open fast-break jam, while Bona recorded his first block of the game before converting a layup in the post on the other end to extend the team’s lead to 16 five minutes into the second period.

“He’s (Bona has) come a long way from his first games here at UCLA,” Jaquez said. “He’s flourishing right now.”

Bona and Campbell combined for 32 points on the night, while Clark joined them as the Bruins’ third double-digit scorer with 11. Jaquez bounced back from an uncharacteristic start with eight points, 12 rebounds and six assists, combining with Bona to grab nine rebounds on the offensive glass.

Though the Utes improved on their early turnover woes, they were unable to get anything going outside of guard Rollie Worster’s 10 points in the second frame. Worster led Utah with 12 points on the night, but he finished as the only double-digit scorer for the team while it continued to shoot itself in the foot with unforced errors.

Following a fast-break dunk from Clark with just over three minutes to go that got the crowd to its feet, Cronin subbed out the starters to wrap up the Bruins’ 12th consecutive win  and remain undefeated in conference play.

“The way to win, we know the formula,” Jaquez said. “Share the ball and play as hard as you can on defense. Once you do that every single game, it’s really just the mental part.”