UCLA builds off Purdue upset with comfortable win over Northwestern

Field Level Media|published: Sat 24th January, 20:31 2026

Jan 24, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Northwestern Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli (2) and forward Tyler Kropp (1) defend UCLA Bruins forward Tyler Bilodeau (34) in the first half at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Tyler Bilodeau scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half to help UCLA to a 71-64 win against Northwestern in a Big Ten game in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Bilodeau made all six of his field-goal attempts in the first half, including four from beyond the 3-point arc for the Bruins (14-6, 6-3 Big Ten), who were coming off a 69-67 win against No. 4 Purdue on Tuesday.

Trent Perry scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half and Donovan Dent added 13 points and five assists for UCLA, which has won four of five.

Nick Martinelli, who entered Saturday tied for the national lead in scoring at 23.6 points a game, scored 20 points for Northwestern (9-11, 1-8), which ended a five-game losing streak with a 74-68 win at USC on Wednesday.

Martinelli has scored at least 20 points in each of the past 11 games,

UCLA took a 41-31 lead into halftime after shooting 61.5% from the floor and holding the Wildcats to 37.5%.

The Bruins used a 7-0 run capped by a Bilodeau 3-pointer to take a 23-14 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

The Wildcats trimmed it to 29-25, but UCLA came back with 10 unanswered points to take its biggest lead of the first half at 39-25 with 3:02 remaining in the opening half.

The Bruins scored their final points of the first half on a pull-up jumper by Perry with 2:13 left to push the lead back to 14 before Northwestern scored the final four points of the half.

The Wildcats got the deficit back to single digits at 45-36 on two free throws by Tyler Kropp with 17:54 left in the game, but the Bruins scored the next six points to go up by 15.

Northwestern was not able to get back within single digits until Jake West made two free throws with 3:49 left to cut it to 62-53.

Max Green then sank a 3 with 2:54 left to trim the lead to 62-56, prompting a timeout from the Bruins.

Jamar Brown sank a 3 for UCLA coming out of the timeout and Perry made two free throws with 1:58 to go, reestablishing a double-digit lead with less than two minutes left.

--Field Level Media