March 3, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Trent Perry (0) drives to the basket between Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Cale Jacobson (31) and Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Rienk Mast (51) during the first half at Foley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Image Trent Perry scored 20 points and UCLA earned its third home win over a top-10 team, beating No. 9 Nebraska 72-52 in Big Ten Conference play Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
The Bruins (20-10, 12-7) finished with a 16-1 record at Foley Pavilion, with their only loss coming in double overtime to Indiana. They also won then-no. 4 Purdue and then – no. 10 Illinois House.
Perry went 8 of 15 from the field and made three of UCLA’s 10 3-pointers, adding seven rebounds and four assists. Eric Dailey Jr. added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Bruins, who fell a half-game behind Purdue and Wisconsin for fifth place in the Big Ten.
Nebraska (25-5, 14-5) missed its chance to secure a triple-bye awarded to the top four teams in next week’s Big Ten Conference tournament. The Cornhuskers shot 38.8%, making just 5 of 24 3-pointers, and Price Sandfort went 2-for-7 from outside.
Sam Hoiberg led Nebraska with 12 points, but had just two assists and went 2-for-4 from the line. The Cornhuskers went 9 of 18 on foul shots.
The Bruins led 37-24 at halftime and built the margin to 18 points with 15:18 left on back-to-back baskets by Dailey. Nebraska began to find its strokes and made seven straight shots, including a 3-pointer by Sandport, to tie the game at 57-45 with 8:02 left.
UCLA made just one field goal in five minutes and held a 10-point lead to five points on one possession. Perry hit a jumper, Nebraska fouled away from the ball and the Bruins took a 62-47 lead on a Tyler Bilodeau 3-pointer with 6:17 left.
UCLA built a nine-point lead in the first six minutes, and a pair of Xavier Booker 3-pointers with 11:16 left in the first half pushed the lead to 22-11. The Bruins made 10 of their first 15 shots, and Nebraska didn’t hit its 10th field goal until more than two minutes into the first half.
The Cornhuskers tied the score at 29-22 with 5:41 left in the first half, then missed 16 of 17 shots, including six in the first half of the second half, making just one more basket.
–Field level media
