This post was updated Dec. 4 at 12:16 a.m.

Both sides of the court at Alaska Airlines Arena read “B1G” on Wednesday.

And it was a big game – at least, as big as an unranked game in early December could be.

The Bruins have not lived up to their preseason billing as the No. 12 team in the country.

Senior guard Donovan Dent has looked little like the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year he was just a season ago.

People had begun to lift the cover off the panic button.

And with Washington (5-3, 0-1 Big Ten) beginning the affair with an 8-0 run and closing with a 17-2 run in the affair’s waning minutes – it seemed like the Bruins’ doomsday clock was seconds from midnight.

A game UCLA men’s basketball (6-2, 1-0) led by 16 as late as 4:45 and by 11 at the 2:51 mark was separated by a single point with just 4.9 seconds remaining.  

But with Washington guard Zoom Diallo’s final shot clanking off the backboard, UCLA held on by the hair on coach Mick Cronin’s head to win 82-80, preventing armageddon among the Bruin faithful.

“This was a must-win for us,” Dent said. “We knew that, and we came in with that mindset.”

Not only was Wednesday the Bruins’ first conference contest, it was their first affair since getting booted from the AP’s top 25 – a product of Nov. 25’s loss to California.

After falling to the Golden Bears, Cronin said the Bruins were going to need better play and leadership out of their guards in order to be successful.

Wednesday, the guards delivered.

But it largely wasn’t Dent.

Senior guard Skyy Clark recorded a Bruin-career-high 25 points to lead his team in its bounce back from Cal.

Clark made his first six shots from deep Wednesday, and his 6-for-7 performance from beyond the arc served as another career best in the blue and gold. 

“It’s definitely a lot more fun when the ball is going in than when it’s not,” Clark said. “It was just one of those nights.”

At Cal, Cronin said his team’s attitude, toughness and resolve were poor. 

Wednesday initially saw little sign of any improvement – Washington led by 18-7 after less than seven minutes. 

But UCLA responded with a 14-0 run to seize a 21-18 advantage. And after four more lead changes in the nip-and-tuck first half, the Bruins entered the locker room up 36-32 – subsidized by 15 first-half points from Clark. 

“Great guard play,” Cronin said. “Donnie (Dent) and Skyy, tonight, played like real quarterbacks. So not only did they score, but they got him (Bilodeau) the ball when we needed to.”

Possibly out of a desire to get more out of the star transfer acquisition – or maybe more so because backup point guard and sophomore Trent Perry was ruled out with an ankle injury – Dent played 39 minutes on the floor, tying with Clark for the team’s most.

And if time is money, every cent seemed worth it. 

“Really, it was just my mindset,” Dent said. “It wasn’t anything mechanical. … I just needed to find myself in my head and over these eight days – the break, my family, my close circle – they helped me a lot.” 

After recording just three points against Cal on 1-for-8 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 on free throws – plus six turnovers – Dent had a similarly slow start Wednesday, recording just six points on 2-for-4 shooting.

However, by night’s end, the point guard had 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Dent also made five of his six free throws, dished out eight assists and trimmed his turnovers to four – though the latter was still a majority of the Bruins’ seven. 

“He’s digging himself out with effort and practice,” Cronin said. “Gets off to a bad start, and feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. My job is to help him through it. … I’m proud of him.”

Cronin added that Dent had also sustained an oblique and foot injury at some point, coinciding with his diminished early-season production.

Senior Tyler Bilodeau’s return gave the Bruins a much-needed forward to rely on – especially with junior forward Eric Dailey Jr. earning his third foul less than five minutes into the second half and his fourth less than halfway through the frame.

After missing the past two games with a knee injury, Bilodeau followed a one-point first half with 20 second-half points. The forward had 13 points in the latter frame’s first five minutes alone.

“That was big time,” Clark said. “We needed that for sure – got us going in the second half.”

However, Bilodeau was subbed out at the 12-minute mark with an apparent calf cramp and wouldn’t see the floor again until 7:12 remained.

Cronin added that as a precautionary measure, Bilodeau only had one and a half practices over the past week heading into Seattle.

Washington’s offense, meanwhile, largely funneled through two Huskies.

Forward Hannes Steinbach – a freshman from Würzburg, Germany – hit his first nine shots from the field and finished with 29 points – all without a shot from beyond the arc. And Diallo put up 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting – including two makes from deep. 

It seemed the only thing stopping the Washington duo was themselves – each earning their third fouls less than six minutes into the second half. And Steinbach was tagged with his fourth with 6:44 remaining.

After UCLA turned the ball over 11 times to Cal’s eight, the former trimmed its figure down to seven, while Washington recorded 15.

Still, the Bruins were outrebounded 33-21 – and the Huskies led the board battle 20-8 at the break. While UCLA improved from the 57% free throw success rate it had against Cal to 71%, the mark is below the team’s own average this season. 

The Huskies’ comeback still raises questions about the Bruins – especially with their late-game performance and seemingly lackluster defense despite a notably defensive-minded coach. After holding Washington to a 2-for-8 performance from deep in the first half, UCLA allowed seven makes on 16 shots from beyond the arc in the second.

“Our defense went to crap,” Dent said. “We let them get in a rhythm. They hit a lot of big threes in the end, and then we gave them a silly and-one.” 

Come crunch time, UCLA called a timeout with 14 seconds left on the clock. Clark and Dent both told the huddle not to foul, Cronin said, only for Clark to do so at the eight-second mark. 

“The guy that said, ‘Don’t foul,’ fouled,” Cronin said. “He said he tried to get out of the way, but you can’t leave it up to the officials in that situation.”

Even with a win, the glow of the panic button has failed to truly fade – and the clock has hardly moved back toward zero.