A gut punch often serves as a wake-up call.

UCLA men’s basketball (15-7, 7-4 Big Ten) was on the brink of capturing its eighth conference victory against Indiana on Saturday, a game that coach Mick Cronin’s squad ostensibly sealed after sophomore guard Trent Perry drained a 3-pointer to tie the contest with less than two seconds remaining in regulation and then netted another to mount a three-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in double overtime. But UCLA collapsed and lost the double-overtime affair. UCLA has a chance to respond against Rutgers (9-13, 2-9) Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.

“You have to play it out,” Cronin said. “It’s the only thing we did well tonight, in my opinion, was play out the last two minutes. Clock, score and that’s when they actually listened to me on how to press.”

Perry’s long-range heave completed the Bruins’ 10-point comeback, even though they trailed by double digits with 1:32 left in regulation. The Westwood bunch charged back into the game courtesy of its stifling full-court defense that forced two turnovers on Hoosier guard Lamar Wilkerson across the last minute of regulation.

UCLA seemingly fulfilled a miracle and put itself on a trajectory to claim victory.

But the Bruins forfeited 22 points across 10 minutes of overtime play to cement their first loss at Pauley Pavilion since Feb. 18, 2025, when the squad fell to the Golden Gophers.

“Everybody had this certain energy that we’re not going to lose this ball game,” Perry said. The shots matter, but we lost, so there’s nothing really else to say about it.”

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak that UCLA started with its 69-67 triumph against then-No. 4 Purdue on Jan. 20.

UCLA followed the upset with back-to-back victories against Northwestern and Oregon, who boast a collective 3-19 conference record this season.

And the Bruins may exploit another team lingering at the bottom of the Big Ten ranks Tuesday night.

Rutgers has yet to record a victory on the road this season, and the coach Steve Pikiell-led squad recorded 25-plus-point losses to Michigan and Illinois, respectively, earlier this season.

The Scarlet Knights, who are riding an eight-game road losing streak extending from the 2024-2025 campaign, have not earned an away win since besting Washington in overtime on Feb. 19, 2025.

And UCLA has vanquished struggling conference opponents, with the squad only posting losses against teams that have over-.500 conference winning percentages.

The Bruins’ backcourt limited Indiana’s leading scorer, Wilkerson, to 8-for-22 shooting from the field and 3-for-11 from deep despite the squad surrendering a season-high 98 points.

“We were doing a good job on the ball,” said senior guard Donovan Dent. “We held one of their best players (Wilkerson) to a rough shooting night, and we were playing good defense.”

Guard Tariq Francis, Rutgers’ leading scorer with 16.7 points per contest, will likely pose the biggest threat to the Bruins’ perimeter defense. The Pittsburgh local has combined for 77 points across his last three performances and has cracked the 30-point mark three times this season.

Francis helped spearhead Rutgers’ pair of conference wins, notching 30-point outings in the squad’s two overtime wins against Oregon and Northwestern.

The Scarlet Knights stormed back in both of those contests after being in a deficit heading into the second half of each game. But the team carried its second-half success into overtime and sealed each outcome, a feat the Bruins failed to accomplish Saturday.

Still, UCLA embraced the lessons learned from its crunch-time struggles against Indiana.

And the squad may have a chance to remedy these mistakes after the Hoosiers stole victory from its grasp.

“We came together, so we’re going to carry on with this lesson and move on to the next one,” Perry said.