WATCH: Hot-shooting Johnny Juzang’s 28 points sends UCLA to Final Four with 51-49 win over #1 Michigan

 

INDIANAPOLIS — Not long before, Johnny Juzang had limped and hopped off the court, his UCLA Bruins in the middle of a heated Elite Eight matchup with Michigan, without any clear option to replace their leading scorer.

But this was the NCAA Tournament, and with his team’s life on the line, Juzang would not be a mere spectator.

The sophomore transfer guard hit a floater over the outstretched arms of 7-foot-1 Michigan center Hunter Dickinson to give UCLA a three-point lead with 1:05 to play.

It proved to be the difference, for even after Juzang split a pair of free throws with six seconds left, Michigan’s Mike Smith missed a 3-pointer and Franz Wagner missed another at the buzzer as UCLA hung on for a 51-49 win and its first trip to the Final Four since 2008.

There, the 11th-seeded Bruins will face undefeated Gonzaga, which beat USC on Tuesday night.

As the final buzzer rang, the Bruins rushed to midcourt, jumping all over each other in jubilation. As they put on their black East Region champion shirts, they moved to the corner of the arena where their powder blue fans were equally ecstatic.

“Unreal, unreal, man. I love every single one of these guys,” Juzang said, choking up with emotion. “It’s something you dream about as a kid. It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful sharing it with these people.”

Jaime Jaquez pointed his fingers up to the revelors, while Cody Riley waved his towel in a circle before the team climbed ladders to cut down the nets.

Juzang led the Bruins with 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting as he continued his five-game domination of the NCAA Tournament.

 

 

Just to stay in the game early required a Herculean effort by Juzang, who scored 14 of UCLA’s first 16 and 12 straight at one point before free throws by Jaquez gave the Bruins the lead back, 18-17.

The rest of the Bruins awoke from their slumber after that. Tyger Campbell hit a couple of jumpers, including a corner 3 that gave the Bruins a four-point halftime lead. After the bucket, he shot a look at the Michigan bench behind him.

Kenneth Nwuba didn’t attempt any shots but played nine valuable first-half minutes with three rebounds and several tough contests in the paint as Cody Riley struggled through foul trouble.

“He dug deep for us,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said.

All told, the UCLA defense clamped down on Michigan, holding the Wolverines to 39.2% from the floor and without a field goal in the final five minutes of the game while forcing 14 turnovers.

“To find a way to beat them with defense the way we did tonight, obviously extremely proud of our team,” Cronin said. It was just resilience.”

A couple more Campbell buckets increased the UCLA lead to nine to open the second half. But seeming disaster struck when Juzang fell to the court clutching his right ankle after a Michigan free throw.

Juzang went straight to the trainer’s table. As the tape was cut off and a new layer was supplied, Dickinson hit a couple layups to cut into the lead. Each time the Michigan fans roared, Juzang turned and looked up at the screen in the corner of Lucas Oil Stadium to see what was unfolding.

“There was no doubt in my mind that he would come back,” Cronin said.

At the next timeout, Juzang put his sneaker back on with a wince. He tested the ankle with a quick jog to the scorer’s table, rejoined the Bruin huddle as “John-ny Ju-zang” chants broke out, and then checked back in.

Michigan had made it a two-possession game again. The teams traded buckets for the next several minutes, with Juzang knocking down a couple jumpers even with the 6-foot-9 Wagner in his face.

“I’ll feel it tonight, but the adrenaline, I wasn’t really too worried about it,” Juzang said. “I got right back out there because I’m trying to leave my heart on the floor.”

A step-back 3 from Smith gave Michigan its first lead of the second half with 7:06 to play. It was the first of four lead changes from that shot to the end of the game.

But UCLA came up with enough stops, and Michigan missed enough shots at the basket, to complete the upset.

The Bruins milled about the court, dazed by their own success. A cooler of blue and gold confetti was dumped at mid-court as they accepted their regional championship trophy, and injured senior Chris Smith sat in the middle of the pile, flinging the paper in the air like a kid with leaves in autumn.

But this is March, and the 11-time NCAA champion Bruins are back in the Final Four for the 19th time, but the first after starting in a play-in game.