Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: UCLA Barely Avoids First-Round Upset

UCLA did win as much as it survived, which is all teams want to do in the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Bruins (26-7) can thank Tyger Campbell for hitting the big shots as they rallied from an eight-point deficit with 7:53 left to beat 13th-seeded Akron 57-53 on Thursday night in a first-round NCAA tournament game in Portland, Oregon.

It appeared for much of the game that UCLA would become the fourth team seeded fifth or higher that would lose Thursday, joining No. 2 seed Kentucky and fifth-seeded Iowa and Connecticut on the sidelines. But the Bruins made just enough plays in the final three minutes to stay alive .

The Bruins are just happy to advance, but they will need to play better to have a chance in Saturday's second-round game against fifth-seeded Saint Mary's, which was impressive in its 82-53 rout on Indiana on Thursday.

A UCLA loss would have been a bad look for Mick Cronin because earlier in the day UCLA announced it had signed Cronin to a new six-year contract through the 2027-28 season. The new deal is expected to make Cronin the highest-paid coach in the Pac-12 and among the top 15 highest-paid coaches in the country.

UCLA has the exact same starting five that it had last year when it was seeded 11th and surprised everyone by advancing all the way to the Final Four before losing to Gonzaga in overtime. But this year, the Bruins are expected to advance deep into the tournament, and the pressure of expectations was evident in the Bruins' tentative play against Akron, which finish in third place in the Mid-American conference before winning the MAC tournament.

Johnny Juzang carried the Bruins to the Final Four last year when he averaged 22.8 points in six postseasn games. But he continued his late-season scoring slump against Akron by scoring just nine points on 3-for-11 shooting. He did hit two key free throws with 4.3 seconds left to assure the UCLA win, but that came after Campbell's heroics.

The Zips (24-10) led 47-39 with 7:53 left and still held a four-point lead with three minutes left before Campbell took over. His three-point shot with 2:49 remaining cut the UCLA deficit to one point, and his 15-footer with 2:16 to go gave the Bruins a one-point lead.

The back-breaker came on the Bruins' next possession following another defensive stop. With 1:19 left on the game clock and the shot clock winding down, Campbell launched a desperation 30-foot shot that swished through and gave the Bruins a four-point advantage. That completed Campbell's personal 8-0 run.

The back-breaker

TYGER CAMPBELL FROM THE LOGO! 🔥#MarchMadness @UCLAMBB pic.twitter.com/MDNdAis6oE
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 18, 2022

After cutting the deficit to two, Akron had a chance to tie or go ahead after getting possession with 15 seconds left. But a contested reverse layup attempt by the Zips' Ali Ali was blocked by Cody Riley with five seconds left, and Juzang made the two clinching free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining.

The Bruins won despite shooting just 35.2% from the field, and only one UCLA starter made at lead half his shots. That was Campbell, who was 6-for-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range for a team-high 16 points.

Campbell talks about his back-breaking three-pointer and his relationship with Mick Cronin in the video below. The UCLA press conference starts about 17 minutes into the video:

Game highlights:

Cover photo by Soobum Im, USA TODAY Sports

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