TEMPE, Ariz. — It was a debacle in the desert, UCLA doubling down on disappointment.
Two days after losing a chance to take ownership of the top spot in the Pac-12 Conference standings, the Bruins fell flat against a team that had logged just one victory since the middle of December.
So many things went wrong for the Bruins against Arizona State. Johnny Juzang missed one jumper after another. Cody Riley had a couple of shots blocked and continued his shooting struggles. Jules Bernard was so cold that he was benched in favor of David Singleton. Jaime Jaquez Jr. committed a boneheaded play near the end of the first overtime.
More jarringly, third-ranked UCLA was outclassed by a team that entered the game with more than twice as many defeats as victories.
It added up to a draining defeat, the Bruins falling 87-84 in triple overtime Saturday night at Desert Financial Arena, fans storming the court in celebration when it was finally over.
The blank expression on Juzang’s face said it all as he walked to the bench after fouling out with 31 seconds left in the final overtime and his team down by four points.
UCLA made one final push after eventually falling behind by six. Jaquez made a driving layup, and the Bruins immediately forced a turnover before Tyger Campbell drove for a layup with seven seconds left to make it 86-84.
Arizona’ State's Marreon Jackson was fouled and made one of two free throws with 6.3 seconds left, giving the Bruins one more chance, but the Sun Devils fouled Jaquez before he could get off a three-point try. Jaquez missed the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, and teammate Peyton Watson chased down the rebound in one corner before his final fling was well off the mark.
Jaquez finished with 27 points and Juzang added 20 for the Bruins, who failed to complete opportunities to prevail near the end of the first and second overtimes.
UCLA gave up back-to-back three-pointers to start the third overtime and could not complete one final comeback after wiping out an 11-point deficit early in the second half.
The Bruins (16-4, 8-3 Pac-12) fell into a tie with Oregon for second in the conference standings, 11/2 games behind Arizona, after dropping their second game in three days. It’s the first time all season UCLA has lost consecutive games.
The Bruins nearly beat themselves at the end of the first overtime. Inbounding the ball from three-quarters court with 1.4 seconds left, Jaquez hurled a pass that sailed over Myles Johnson out of bounds along the far baseline.
That epic gaffe gave Arizona State the ball on its side of half court with no time having run off the clock. D.J. Horne got a good look from the corner, but his three-point try at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim.
Jaquez got a chance to redeem himself at the end of the second overtime before his baseline jumper missed with four seconds left.
The Bruins trailed by 11 points early in the second half before rallying to force the extra period. With the score tied at 62 in regulation, UCLA coach Mick Cronin called a timeout to set up a final play.
Juzang backed his defender toward the basket but missed a jumper with eight seconds left. Jackson missed an NBA-range three-pointer in the final seconds, and the teams headed to overtime.
UCLA had surged into a 58-56 lead with 2:41 to go after Campbell made a pull-up jumper, Riley buried a shot in the lane while absorbing contact and Jaquez made a steal that triggered a fast break ending in Juzang’s layup.
The Sun Devils eventually caught up by making a flurry of free throws, tying the score at 62 with 36 seconds left.
The Bruins were outshot 40.3% to 37.2% by a team that ranked last in the Pac-12 in shooting percentage. The Sun Devils, who also resided in the conference cellar when it came to three-point accuracy, also made a respectable 11 of 32 shots (34.4%) from long range.
Jackson was an especially irksome thorn in the side of the Bruins, scoring 24 points for the Sun Devils (7-13, 3-7).
There was a conspicuous absence on UCLA’s bench. Mac Etienne, the freshman forward who had been cited by police in Tucson on Thursday for allegedly spitting on fans after the game, had flown back to Los Angeles on Friday alongside Chris Carlson, a UCLA associate athletic director. Carlson returned to Phoenix in time to rejoin the team for the game against the Sun Devils.
