UCLA falls to Indiana in double-overtime heartbreaker after costly last-second error

LOS ANGELES — Indiana handed UCLA its first home loss of the season on Saturday, edging the Bruins 98-97 in a double-overtime thriller at Pauley Pavilion.

The game was decided at the free-throw line with just 1.5 seconds remaining in the second overtime. UCLA’s Donovan Dent committed a foul on Indiana’s Trent Sisley, who made the go-ahead free throw to seal the victory.

UCLA forced overtime after trailing by 10 points with only two minutes left in regulation. Trent Perry sparked the late surge, hitting a critical 3-pointer to tie the game and keep the Bruins' hopes alive.

Despite the comeback, UCLA head coach Mick Cronin criticized his team’s lack of discipline and failure to execute the defensive game plan.

"They didn't listen to our scouting report, and that’s why you lose," Cronin said.

Cronin noted that the foul leading to the winning free throw occurred on a play the team had specifically analyzed during preparations. Perry led UCLA in the losing effort with 25 points.

UCLA’s narrow defeat to Indiana serves as a stark case study in the unforgiving nature of high-stakes competition, where the margin between a signature victory and a systemic failure is measured in a single moment of lapsed concentration. On the surface, the contest offered a compelling narrative of resilience: UCLA’s erasure of a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes—capped by Trent Perry’s high-pressure three-pointer—bore all the hallmarks of a collegiate classic.

Yet, Head Coach Mick Cronin’s post-game assessment was pointedly clinical, stripping away the emotional veneer to focus on a fundamental lack of tactical discipline. By stating the team "deserved to lose" and dismissing any notion of a "silver lining," Cronin underscored a harsh reality: late-game heroics cannot mitigate a failure to execute the baseline strategic plan. The coach specifically cited the team’s inability to defend a set play they had reviewed ten times on film—a breakdown in preparation that renders individual talent moot.

In this framework, Donovan Dent’s terminal error was not an isolated stroke of bad luck, but rather the inevitable outcome of non-compliance with technical instructions. The broader implication is clear: in an elite performance environment, grit and momentum are insufficient substitutes for precision. At this level, victory is determined not by the spectacular, but by the rigorous application of tactical intelligence in every detail.