UCLA
8-3,2-0Big Ten
Arizona State
9-3,0-0Big 12
Bruins Down Sun Devils, 90-77
December 17, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team defeated Arizona State, 90-77, in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial on Wednesday evening.
The Bruins (8-3) had three players finish in double-figure scoring against Arizona State (9-3). Donovan Dent led the way with 20 points on 9-for-17 shooting, Skyy Clark and Tyler Bilodeau each scored 18 points. Clark was 6-for-10 from 3-point distance, and Bilodeau was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line.
Anthony "Pig" Johnson led the way for Arizona State with 20 points, while three other Sun Devils finished with at least 10 points.
UCLA never trailed against Arizona State and pushed ahead, 45-33, by halftime. The visiting Sun Devils kept the margin 10 points through the majority of the second half. Clark nailed a corner 3-pointer with 4:46 to play – his sixth 3-point of the game – to put UCLA on top, 81-70. The Bruins held on over the final four-plus minutes for the 90-77 win.
"What a great defensive first half, held them to 33 percent and 12 percent," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "They have some guys that can score and are super fast. We had a tough whistle in my opinion, but obviously, I'm biased towards my side. They shot 17 free throws in the second half and they were trailing. We have got to get better defensively. We can't give up 36 paint points, 18 layups. We can't give up 51 paint and free throw points, combined. We got away with it tonight because we scored 90."
In a game of mini-scoring runs for the Bruins, Jamar Brown hit his third triple of the night, putting UCLA up nine, 75-66, with 6:44 left in the game. On the next Bruins' possession, Clark hit his fifth shot from behind the arc, and the Bruins re-established their double-digit lead at 78-66.
Arizona State continued to chip away at the Bruins' cushion through the second half. ASU cut the deficit down to five points, at 65-60, before the Bruins took advantage of a 6-0 run. Trent Perry nailed a triple before Williams stuffed Andrija Grbovic at the rim on the defensive end. That defensive highlight turned into a transition 3-pointer for Clark. UCLA secured a 71-60 margin with 8:48 to play in regulation.
After leading at halftime, 45-33, the Bruins continued to assert themselves. Steven Jamerson II recorded dunks on back-to-back possessions, Dent made another layup through contact and made the foul shot, before Brown hit a corner triple to push UCLA's advantage to 14 points (55-39, just four minutes into the second half).
Through the game's opening 20 minutes, the Bruins forced Arizona State to shoot 11-for-33 (33.3%) from the field, and 2-for-15 from 3-point range.
Dent made driving layups on back-to-back possessions to propel the Bruins to a 10-point lead with 1:57 to go in the first half. The Riverside, Calif., product finished the opening half with a team-leading 13 points.
Continuing his opening half, Dent cashed in from 3-point distance to get the Bruins up nine points, 42-33. Clark then drained his third 3-pointer of the night to extend the lead to 45-33 with 17 seconds remaining in the half.
Arizona State closed the gap to eight points, 32-24, before Williams connected from behind the arc to re-establish UCLA's double-digit lead at 35-24, with 3:42 left in the first half.
Clark hit his first 3-pointer of the night to kickstart a 13-3 UCLA scoring run, putting the Bruins up 14-6. Trent Perry then drove through the lane and finished at the rim, Clark added a corner three, and Jamar Brown cashed in from behind the arc to extend UCLA's lead to 15 points, 24-9, with 9:16 remaining in the half.
UCLA's defense was on full display Wednesday night as the Bruins limited the Sun Devils to 3-for-14 shooting from the field and 0-for-7 from behind the arc over the game's first eight minutes of action.
The Bruins will play two more home games in the next week. UCLA hosts Cal Poly this Friday night (7 p.m., PT). Next week, UCLA will take on UC Riverside on Tuesday, Dec. 23 (at 1 p.m., PT). Both of those non-conference games will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
