Los Angeles, Calif. — Closing out non-conference play, the UC Davis Men's Basketball Team suffered a 81-54 defeat at the hands of the No. 13 ranked UCLA Bruins. The Aggies will enter the Big West portion of their schedule with a 7-5 record. With the win, UCLA improves to 11-2, and are winners of their last eight. After starting the season going 6-2 in the month of November, the Aggies have dropped three of their four contests in the month of December and will look to turn it around to begin Big West play.

UC Davis entered historic Pauley Pavilion and for most of the first half, were going back and fourth with the Bruins. Limiting the Bruins to no three point makes for the entire half, each team struggled to find a rhythm offensively. With the Aggies identity on offense being characterized by their ability to get up and down the court in a blur, it was the Bruins half-court defense determining the pace of play. 

A gritty start to the game on both sides saw the first 20 minutes of action result in a 33-21 half in favor of UCLA.

After earning Big West Player of the Week Honors, Elijah Pepper was held in check in the first half due to some foul trouble. After he was able to get acclimated into the flow of the game, Pepper would finish the night in Westwood with a team-high 16 points, scoring 14 of those points in the second half.

Robby Beasley III was able to put together a noteworthy performance and returned back to his marksmanship ways. After only hitting on three pointer last time out against Eastern Washington, Beasley III led the Aggies from behind the arc and went 4-8 from three point range. He finished with 14 points, four rebounds, on 50% shooting from the field.

Ty Johnson was the third Aggie to reach double figures on the night, after finishing with 13 points on 6-14 shooting. Johnson also dished out a team-high four assists.

The Ags were able to lead the contest for 6:24 of action but UCLA, with the support of their home crowd took control early in the second half and never looked back.

Leading the charge for UCLA was Jaylen Clark who poured in a game-high 18 points to go along with 11 rebounds for his third career double-double.

UC Davis will return to action after the Holiday Break against Hawai'i on Thursday, Dec. 29 at SimpliFi Arena. Game time is set for 9 P.M. PT and can be watched on ESPN+.