Travis Perry Explains UCLA’s Late-Season Turnaround

The Bruins haven’t found much consistency this season, but they’ve gotten it lately. Most notably, New Mexico transfer Donovan Dent has finally found his stride, dishing out 53 assists to just two turnovers over his last five games, including two 15-assist outings. It took him a while, but Dent seems to have turned his season around at the right time. 

UCLA Is Now Fully Healthy 

UCLA struggled while Skyy Clark was out, suffering several bad losses and struggling to find an identity on either side of the floor with one of their top scorers and perimeter defenders out. However, since his return, the Bruins are 4-3, including their wins over Illinois and Nebraska, proving that they can hang with some of the top teams in the country when fully healthy. 

Guard Trent Perry, who did a solid job of filling in while Perry was out, talked about the team finding its stride at a very important time in the season.

Perry’s Thoughts

• “I feel like now we’re just coming together at a really good time,” Perry said. “We’re just meshing together as well. Donnie, [Tyler Bilodeau], everybody else is making plays, and everybody’s getting very well connected. We’re talking a lot more on defense, and offense. We’re spreading it out a little bit more, it’s been great.”

• “Just our willingness to defend,” he added when asked what has contributed most to the turnaround. “We just don’t want each other to lose, especially for the seniors at the end of the day. I see that now. I just think we’re just going to keep moving that forward. I think it’s been great so far.”

The Bruins hold a 21-10 record overall and a 13-7 record in the Big Ten, good for the sixth seed in the conference tournament. It’s been a strange, up-and-down season for UCLA, but they’ve proven they can beat top talent, so they can’t be counted out as a potentially dangerous team in the postseason.