Bruins Look to Deny Purdue of Bounce-Back Win

The UCLA Bruins (20-8, 11-6) are gearing up for their toughest battle in almost a month as they hit the road to face the struggling No. 20 Purdue Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6), losers of four-straight. The Bruins will look to deny them of a hungry bounce-back spot and earn another pivotal win.

Just two weeks ago, Purdue was the No. 7 team in the country and was the common pick for Big Ten regular season champs. Instead, it had fallen almost out of the Top 25, losing four straight games and almost eliminating itself from contention for a conference title.

Despite the losses, this is a prime spot for Boilermaker head coach Matt Painter and his squad to earn a bounce-back win. UCLA will have other ideas as they seek to pick up just their second road win against a traditional Big Ten opponent.

In Wednesday's media availability prior to practice, Bruins sophomore guard Sebastian Mack asked about how to approach an opponent that is so talented, experiencing an uncommon slump. He knows that the energy that Purdue brings needs to be matched by him and the entire team.

"You do have to match it, you can't just go in there lackadaisical because we're playing Purdue," Mack said. "It's a big stage for a lot of people and I just feel like going in there, we got to go in expecting a fight, expecting a battle, and just trying to be victorious through that."

Bruins junior guard Skyy Clark compared Purdue's recent struggles to a similar scenario that occurred earlier this season for UCLA. The Bruins lost four straight games to open up the 2025 calendar year, then quickly responded with their second-longest win streak of the season.

"It definitely makes them more dangerous because we were in that situation, beginning of January, and then we ran off, I believe it was seven in a row," Clark said. "We can't look at it like, 'Oh, they're losing, they might be down, they might be having some troubles or whatever.' We got to take it as they're even more motivated to win now."

It does not matter who was on the Boilermakers' schedule, they are looking to take their frustrations out on whoever comes into their building on Friday night. If the Bruins play their style of basketball and handle the hostile crowd accordingly, they will have a great chance for a sixth ranked win.

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