CHICAGO — UCLA guard Donovan Dent recorded the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history in a 72-59 win against Rutgers on Thursday night.
Dent, a 6-foot-2 senior guard who transferred from New Mexico last summer, scored 12 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished 12 assists for the Bruins (22-10), who play Michigan State in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal on Friday night.
“I didn’t know until the under-four media timeout, and one of my teammates was like you’ve got to get one more rebound,” Dent said. “I was hunting for it there at the end for sure.”
Dent, an honorable mention all-Big Ten performer, entered the game shooting 13.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game and ranked third among Big Ten players in assists per game (7.5) and fourth in steals (1.6). But it was his rebounding effort against Rutgers that made his performance stand out.
At halftime, UCLA coach Mick Cronin pressed his guards to attack the glass. Dent obliged with four offensive rebounds in the second half, all of which came during a 14-2 run before the first media timeout.
“We just flipped our mindset in the second half, crashing with the offensive rebounds,” Dent said.
Beginning with the Bruins’ 95-94 overtime win against Illinois, Dent has elevated his game, as well as those around him. In a six-game stretch, he has 65 assists to just four turnovers with at least 12 assists in three games. UCLA is 5-1 over that stretch.
Last year at New Mexico, Dent had 108 turnovers. This year, he has cut that number to 60.
“I told him when I recruited him, there’s only one person in charge,” Cronin said. “It’s not a democracy, and you’re going to take care of the ball, and you’re talented enough.
“Changing habits is (hard), but I give him all the credit. He signed on for it. I don’t think he understood what it was going to entail, but he’s gotten so much better along the way.”
Dent’s triple-double is the fifth in UCLA history and the first since 2013.
