This post was updated Dec. 16 at 8:21 p.m.

The Bruins’ 2025-26 campaign took another hit. Then-No.25 UCLA men’s basketball (7-3, 2-0 Big Ten) fell to its second-ranked team of the season, losing 82-72 to then-No. 8 Gonzaga (10-1) on Saturday at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. While the Bruins have three remaining non-conference contests until their Big Ten slate, they failed again to garner another key non-conference win for their March Madness résumé. Daily Bruin Sports editor Connor Dullinger delivers his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ loss to the Bulldogs.

[Related: Bulldogs best Bruins as UCLA men’s basketball falls to Gonzaga in 2nd ranked game]

When will things start clicking?

This iteration of UCLA men’s basketball has not lived up to its expectations.

And coach Mick Cronin and the entire squad probably agree with that.

The Bruins retained three starters including their first, second and fourth leading scorers from last season.

They added the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year and 2024-2025 AP All-American honorable mention, a fifth-year guard who can shoot at a 40% clip or higher from the perimeter, a former five-star big man, and kept a former four-star and McDonald’s All-American as the third guard in the backcourt.

Yet, UCLA lost both of its first two ranked affairs.

To be fair, Arizona is currently the No. 1 team in the country, and No. 7 Gonzaga has just one loss to No. 2 Michigan. But the Bruins still choked in the final minutes against the Wildcats and looked nothing like a ranked squad against the Bulldogs.

UCLA also lost to California, beat Pepperdine by only 11 points and Eastern Washington by just six.

And the Bruins’ wins had ugly stretches, with Washington falling by just two points – despite trailing by 16 with less than five minutes remaining in the game – and shooting 30% from the field in the second half against a 5-5 Oregon team Dec. 6.

So what’s wrong?

The Bruins have yet to win big games and are not really impressing in their victories.

They have the talent to be a top-25 team in the nation since they started the season as the No. 12 squad in the country.

But if UCLA doesn’t figure it out quickly, this season could lead to disappointment.

What happened to #2?

Donovan Dent has yet to make an appearance.

Or rather, the nation-renowned player that many thought was coming to Westwood.

Dent is averaging 12 points per game on 37% shooting from the field – just one season following averaging 20.4 points per game on a 49% tally. Many thought Dent would excel at pushing the ball in transition, running downhill and attacking the glass.

But he has yet to effectively slash through the lanes, as he showed at New Mexico. He has just one 20-plus point game and has yet to garner 15-plus points in back-to-back games this season.

Dent also shot 40.9% from beyond the arc last season on 1.9 attempts but has plummeted to 7.7% on 1.4 attempts per game.

He has yet to show confidence in his 3-point stroke and has been unable to impact the game on all three levels. However, Dent has proven to be the facilitator Cronin envisioned, averaging 6.8 assists and 2.6 turnovers per game – an improvement from the 6.4 and 3.1 marks he posted last season.

Dent has also shot 8-for-22 and combined for 23 points between both ranked affairs.

While the senior guard has dealt with injuries and has had to adjust in Westwood, Dent is falling short of his ceiling and potential.

Following assignments

If Gonzaga was going to win, it was obvious how it was going to happen.

Frontcourt tandem Braden Huff and Graham Ike lead the team in points at 17.4 and 17.3 points per game, respectively. And there is little scoring help outside of Huff and Ike. Not a single Gonzaga guard averages more than 10 points per game, and guard Tyon Grant-Foster is the only other double-digit scorer on the team.

But despite the team’s lack of depth, it didn’t stop the forward duo from dominating the contest.

Huff and Ike combined for 46 of the team’s 82 points and did so on an efficient 16-for-28 collective shooting performance. Guard Mario Saint-Supery was the next highest scorer with 12 points, and no one else reached double-digits.

Cronin identified his team’s downfall as not following the scouting report and allowing Huff and Graham to feast Saturday night.

Dent and Bilodeau only corroborated what the coach said.

If the Bruins are going to compete in the upper echelons of college basketball, then they are going to have to stick to what they know about opposing teams and execute the gameplan.

Where did everyone else go?

Dent was not alone last night.

As much as Dent’s struggles have disappointed Bruin fans, inconsistency from junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. and senior guard Skyy Clark led to the Bruins’ demise.

The returning tandem combined for just 14 points Saturday night in Seattle, shooting 2-for-7 from beyond the arc and both failing to reach the charity stripe.

Dailey’s lack of production continues to illustrate his inconsistency issues. He has scored 15, seven, 17, zero, 18 and six across his last six performances. Dailey must be a significant contributor weekly if the Bruins want to achieve success.

Similarly, Clark tied for his second-worst scoring outing of the season with just eight points – a surprising result after posting double-digit points in three of his last four games, including 25 and 22 against Washington and Presbyterian, respectively.

But it wasn’t just Clark and Dailey, either.

Sophomore guard Trent Perry scored just three points in 13 minutes against Gonzaga. He was limited to just two shot attempts. When the former McDonald’s All-American takes more than two shots, he has scored nine-plus points in each of these performances.

Other than Perry’s three points, the Bruin bench combined for just seven points.

And if UCLA wants to trek deep into the NCAA tournament, the squad needs to find more scoring production outside of Tyler Bilodeau.

The sole bright spot

Tyler Bilodeau was the one reason why Saturday night’s game was competitive.

The senior forward paced the team with 24 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and knocking in four 3-pointers. On multiple occasions, the Bulldogs went on scoring runs that made it feel like they were pulling away.

But Bilodeau answered every time.

The Kennewick, Washington, local is not only leading the team in scoring for the second consecutive year, but he is consistently the team’s most valuable contributor.

Bilodeau has scored double-digit points in all but two performances and has scored at least 19 in five of his eight appearances while shooting 52.3% from the field and 40.6% from beyond the arc.

He also makes his presence felt on the glass, grabbing 4.6 rebounds per contest.

Bilodeau shows up every night, and he is the team’s most valuable player 10 games into the 2025-26 campaign.