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Social Media Reacts To Injury Ridden Semifinal Match

The Bruins had many issues against Purdue, but they still gave social media a good game to watch.
Nathan Berry|
Mar 14, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; UCLA Bruins center Xavier Booker (1) reacts after making a three point basket against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Mar 14, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; UCLA Bruins center Xavier Booker (1) reacts after making a three point basket against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

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UCLA Bruins

The Bruins entered the Big Ten tournament semifinal without Tyler Bilodeau, and it was going to be all hands on deck to try and grab a victory and move on to the finals.

Then Donovan Dent came down with a minor injury not worth making worse, and the Bruins were left without their top two players and started to get stretched thin.

Yet they still managed to put on a good game for social media, and the shocking closeness got some good reactions online to the Boilermakers rematch.

An Injury Ridden Semifinal Rematch With Purdue: The First Half

The first ten minutes of the game were by far the worst for both teams, as neither could get anything going with the ball and shots just couldn't land no matter what everybody tried.

This included some faulty layups by the Bruins that should have been made and far too many missed threes, yet they kept it close and gave social media a good game to watch.

However, that was when disaster struck, as Dent went down with his injury and two Bruins bench players got more minutes out of necessity, which made many viewers nervous.

The Bruins were even down by eight points with little. time to go in the first half, and without their two best players they couldn't catch back up before the buzzer sounded and had a 34-27 deficit to climb.

An Injury Ridden Semifinal Rematch With Purdue: The Second Half

Things looked over for the Bruins coming out of the locker-room because they let the Boilermakers extend their lead past double digits and could not find any sort of offensive rythym.

Social media already started looking towards March Madness, and even the most resilient UCLA fans had lost hope for the Big Ten tournament.

The thing is, UCLA was not done playing and they put together a serious comeback attempt against the Boilermakers across the final ten minutes of the game.

At time they got within the lead by a point or two, and even tied which was incredibly impressive without their top two starters to viewers.

Unfortunately the comeback bid fell short in the final minute and Purdue was able to pull away, leading to a final score of 73-66 in favor of Purdue.

They had been hit with a bad-break, but UCLA fans online are ready for the bigger tournament and even Purdue fans were able to recognize how good the Bruins performed.

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Nathan Berry
NATHAN BERRY

Nathan Berry is a senior at NCCS and was raised a Michigan State Spartan fan. With a great interest in sports and writing, journalism is a great avenue to pursue both.