This post was updated March 14 at 3:17 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS – March’s mad grip fastened its knot on the Bruins on Friday afternoon. 

It was a reminder that heartache can strike year after year, and destiny’s hand can drag one back to a familiar stop. 

About a year removed from their heartbreaker against the Ducks – one that prematurely fractured the Bruins’ season – an eerily similar trajectory awaited. 

Caught beneath a Badger barrage from beyond the arc, the Bruins frayed under clinical ball movement and laser-sharp accuracy. Simultaneously, offensive rhythm was entirely elusive to start, and end, a do-or-die dogfight for the Bruins. 

“We didn’t do none of what we were supposed to do game plan-wise,” said sophomore guard Sebastian Mack. “We failed miserably at that. They played comfortable, and they looked like it, too. We just looked like the team that came out flat and stayed flat.” 

Shots clung off the rim all night as the back iron was home to the majority of No. 4 seed UCLA men’s basketball’s (22-10, 13-8 Big Ten) attempts. No. 5 seed Wisconsin’s (25-8, 13-7) fluidity contrasted sharply from its quarterfinal foe’s disjointed pace, going 19-for-32 from deep to plunge the Bruins into a deeper abyss and steer an open route to the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

Wisconsin’s merciless 86-70 throttling threw UCLA three realities: Painful deja vu of last year’s Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal exit, 2,086 humbling miles from home and a swift return to Westwood just two days after touchdown in Indianapolis.

Three bitter truths to swallow after 40 agonizing minutes. 

“We all have weaknesses, and there are teams that can shoot it at five positions. Really, we don’t have the personnel,” said coach Mick Cronin. “We don’t have an athletic lineup that can just switch and really shut that down. … We took the bait miserably today. They’re a tough matchup for us.” 

All five members of UCLA’s starting lineup were sluggish with the ball, and there was a palpable lack of offensive tempo across the court. But Mack replaced junior guard Skyy Clark 3:05 minutes into the game and seemed the only Bruin to touch his foot on the gas pedal.

Hard to stomp the gas with his teammates stuck in park. 

As he has this season, the “Mack Attack” appeared to embrace the pressure – the only Bruin to do so – and injected life into a squad visibly reeling. Mack’s early “hero ball” effort powered him to 10 of UCLA’s first 18 points, attempting to steady a team lost in a fog of turmoil. 

The fog, in its more literal interpretation, seemed to dim the nylon, too. 

“We took the bait and shot a whole bunch of 3s,” Cronin said after his team went 9-for-30 from deep. “That’s not who we are. We don’t shoot it well enough for that. We didn’t move the ball, so we didn’t get the ball to the rim.”

Mack’s efforts were utterly overshadowed by merciless precision and a red-hot attack from the Badgers – well-supported by hundreds of fans decked out in red and white after traveling 330 miles from home. 

Shell-shocked and searching for answers, the second half was more of the same for UCLA. 

But a trip to the locker room and a chance to regroup offered no sanctuary.

Opting for a smaller five after the break – freshman guard Trent Perry, senior guard Kobe Johnson, junior forward William Kyle III, Mack and Clark – UCLA found a slim defensive edge on the perimeter in the second half, plugging one hole in a sinking ship.

The Badgers were slightly more muted on the 3. But their offense still ran like clockwork, slicing through UCLA’s defense with crisp ball movement and a complete outmatch in talent.

And a promising halt on Wisconsin’s 3-point effort vanished as junior guard Dylan Andrews took a lesson from the Badgers with a triple at the extended elbow. 

The Badgers wouldn’t let him hijack their flair. 

Badger guard John Blackwell buried one on the other end. Seconds later, guard Kamari McGee pulled up for his own. Six points piled onto UCLA’s mounting deficit on a night when every Bruin misstep accompanied Badger ruthlessness. 

“We came out too flat. We let their two best players hit some open shots to get them comfortable, get them confident, and it just rolled over to the rest of the game,” Clark said. “There’s really not really much to say.”

Facing a fragmented and seemingly frustrated Bruin bunch, the Badgers executed their game plan as fluid ball movement aggravated their command. 

Wisconsin’s perimeter onslaught shrouded its interior play, rendering 20 points in the key a mere afterthought amid a hailstorm of 3s. 

March once again silenced the Bruins. 

Figuratively and literally. 

“I don’t have an opening statement,” Cronin said. 

It might have been the first time the loquacious leader was left speechless.