This post was updated Feb. 12 at 1:32 a.m.

It seemed as if nothing went the Bruins’ way Tuesday night, as a missed defensive rebound stifled a second-half comeback.

After a seven-game win streak – one that featured three top-25 wins, including a top-10 victory – the Bruins finally met their match.

On a road trip to the Midwest, UCLA men’s basketball (18-7, 9-5 Big Ten) fell to Illinois (17-8, 9-6) by a score of 83-78 on Tuesday night at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The defeat marked the Bruins’ fourth away loss of the season and second against a team ranked inside the KenPom top 25. 

“We just have to learn from this and get better in practice tomorrow,” said junior forward Tyler Bilodeau. “We just got to focus on Indiana now but learn from this loss. We got to get better defensively, especially myself. I can’t be that bad defensively.”

Despite facing a 16-point deficit with 4:51 left in the game, the Bruins went on a 13-0 run to cut the Fighting Illini lead to just three. 

However, with seven seconds remaining, and the Bruins down three, a missed free throw from Illinois forward Ben Humrichous was tipped backward – despite just one Illinois player in the paint – and eventually reclaimed by the shooter, sealing the Bruins’ fate in the dying embers of the affair.

“Tyler is still at 80%, Aday (sophomore center Aday Mara) is nowhere near ready. The sickness is really throwing him off. I thought it was a valiant effort by our guys, but defensively, we failed the test,” said coach Mick Cronin. “They had too many offensive (rebounds) – a few too many.”

Like a majority of their losses this season, the Bruins’ defeat was marred by shooting woes from the free-throw line. UCLA went 10-for-15 from the charity stripe compared to Illinois’ 90% clip from the line through the contest. 

An unrelenting crowd of 15,544 fans at State Farm Center – most of them Fighting Illini fans – may have impacted the Bruins’ ability to convert offensively, putting together just 25 points on nine shots through the first half. The defeat seemed to signify the Bruins’ inability to find success on the road – they have succumbed to four losses in Big Ten games in 2025. 

Despite the defeat – and the 11 3-pointers knocked in by the Fighting Illini – the Bruins did not struggle defensively. UCLA forced 14 turnovers and garnered eight steals, continuing a 25-game streak of forcing double-digit turnovers. 

“We are going to do whatever we can to scratch back into the game and give us a chance to win,” said junior guard Skyy Clark. “We just can’t let ourselves get down that much, first of all. If we play how we usually play on defense and rebounding, then it would have totally been a different outcome for sure.”

Ultimately, work around the glass proved to be the deciding factor Tuesday night. Illinois outrebounded UCLA on the defensive end 26 to 18 and 10 to five on offense. Illinois guard Kasparas Jakučionis and frontcourt tandem Morez Johnson Jr. and Tomislav Ivišić each boasted at least six rebounds.

Lack of production from UCLA’s premier scorers also led to the team’s demise. Two of the Bruins’ top five leading scorers – Clark and sophomore guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. – combined for just 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field. The pair also combined for two turnovers and just two assists.

“I would say we got off to a bad start, we didn’t have any ball movement,” Cronin said. “I tried to prepare them for this environment, and I thought the environment had us out of character early in the game – again. I’m not going to single people out, it’s on me to get that job done.”

A bright spot for the Bruins continues to be Bilodeau. UCLA’s leading scorer paced the team with 25 points, including a career-high seven 3-pointers.

On the other side of the court, Jakučionis and Ivišić were problematic for the Bruin defense, combining for 40 points on 13-for-22 shooting. While Jakučionis lit up the scoresheet from beyond the arc – knocking in three 3-pointers – Ivišić’s height advantage proved to be too much for the undersized Bruins, as he garnered seven rebounds, including four 3s.

“The story of the game is that defensively, we got exposed, our inability to guard the perimeter by some guys and their ability to spread you out because Ivišić can shoot the ball,” Cronin said.