Short-handed UCLA basketball rests its case for Friday opener in NCAA Tournament

CHICAGO — As the NCAA Tournament bracket is unveiled Sunday, UCLA basketball will be focused on one piece of information.

Not who it plays.

Not where it plays.

When it plays.

UCLA guard Donovan Dent (left) is expected to return from an injury he sustained Saturday against Purdue before the NCAA Tournament begins. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Bruins want to play on Friday, not Thursday.

Any extra time will be welcome for a team trying to get its top two players back from injury after UCLA finished the Big Ten Tournament without Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau.

“You would hope that we don’t play till Friday,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said Saturday after his team’s 73-66 loss to Purdue in a conference tournament semifinal at the United Center.

If the hunch that Boilermakers coach Matt Painter shared with Cronin after the game is correct, then that will be the case.

What did Painter tell Cronin?

“Put it this way, he just thought logistically that we would definitely play Friday,” Cronin said. “I don’t know if that’s about teams that play on the weekend. I don’t know where he got that because at Cincinnati I was always playing on Sunday in the American Conference Championship, and we played on Thursday a lot.

“But Matt’s smart, so I’m hoping he’s right.”

Cronin suggested that he expected Dent and Bilodeau back whenever his team plays next, negating the need to communicate with the NCAA Tournament selection committee about their status.

Three years ago, Cronin had been worried his team’s seeding would suffer after forward Jaylen Clark suffered an Achilles injury and center Adem Bona went down with a shoulder injury in the Pac-12 Tournament.

“It’s not as complicated with this,” Cronin said. “Tyler could have played. Donny could have played. They’d have been playing hurt. But there’s this — no point — I wouldn’t have played them in a regular-season game. I just tried to take care of guys.”

Dent didn’t return after leaving midway through the first half with a calf strain. Bilodeau sat out after having suffered a mild right knee sprain on Friday against Michigan State.

Cronin indicated that the medical staff was ready to have a discussion with him about Dent’s availability to return at halftime.

“I said no need to play,” Cronin said. “Next week’s more important.”

In an encouraging development, the Bruins didn’t fold after Dent joined Bilodeau on the bench. They were tied with Purdue with less than four minutes to play before the Boilermakers pulled away for a victory that sent them into the championship game to face Michigan.

UCLA’s Xavier Booker scored 12 points in the Bruins’ semifinal loss to Purdue at the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday in Chicago. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Meanwhile, the Bruins (23-11) will await their NCAA Tournament destination. Most projections have them listed as a No. 7 or a No. 8 seed after they nearly won another game short-handed.

“Extremely proud of my team, down two great players, but we’ve got other great players,” Cronin said. “They came up with a valiant, valiant effort.”

Taking Bilodeau’s spot in the starting lineup, Xavier Booker made several uber athletic moves — including a driving dunk — on the way to 12 points. Backup center Steven Jamerson II also made a couple of nifty plays around the basket.

Guard Eric Freeny did his usual yeoman’s work with eight points, five rebounds and two assists. Brandon Williams played solid defense to go with his three points.

Collectively, they showed the ability to compete no matter who was in the game.

“This team has so much depth,” Dent said. “Like, our depth is insane as a team and we played our … off. I’m proud of everybody.”

Cronin’s one lament was the lack of rebounding from his bigs. Booker and Jamerson combined for two rebounds in 40 minutes, which is not going to get it done against a team as physical as Purdue. Boilermakers big man Oscar Cluff had 14 rebounds, helping his team win the rebounding battle by 11.

“There lies the issue,” Cronin said. “We’ve got to get some rebounds out of the 5 spot.”

Nevertheless, Cronin said his team was better for having played so many players against the Boilermakers.

“The experience that Steve and Brandon and Eric Freeny got today — and Book played a lot more minutes,” Cronin said, “can really help us next week when those [other] guys are back.”

Especially, it seems, if that return comes on Friday.