If the WSU men’s basketball team had any chance of defeating the UCLA Bruins in Pauley Pavillon for the first since 2009, the Cougars would have needed to play a perfect ballgame.

Instead, WSU (9-12, 1-8 Pac-12) played its worst game of the 2015 season against the Bruins which resulted in a 83-50 loss. This marks as the largest margin of defeat in Head Coach Ernie Kent’s two seasons at WSU.

The Cougars dug themselves in a hole early by scoring just 11 points in 14 minutes of the first half. It also didn’t help having the team’s leading scorer, junior forward Josh Hawkinson, sitting the bench for about a total 12 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

Though the Cougars had their struggles on offense in the first half, they were efficient on the defensive end which prevented UCLA from blowing the game out of reach early.

“We were getting stops, we were doing what we needed to do on that end of the floor,” Kent said. “I thought our 10 turnovers, gave them 13 second-chance points in the first half, and just a very poor shooting start to the game because we got any shot we want to start the game.”

Eventually, the Bruins found their rhythm on offense toward the end of the first half. The Cougars had a tough time containing UCLA’s backcourt led by junior guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton. Both players finished the first half tied for a team high of seven points.

The Cougars shot just 28 percent and had 10 turnovers in the first half. WSU’s slow start led to a 13-point deficit at halftime.

“I equate the first half of that game (to Hawkinson’s) three fouls, the 13-point lead, all-around our inability to shoot the ball, and I felt like we turned it over too much,” Kent said. “I thought we had a lot of unforced turnovers that led to easy buckets.”

WSU’s best chance of getting back in the game came early in the second half. The Cougars went on a 5-0 run in the first minute of the second half and cut the deficit to eight points.

Despite suffering a small set back, the Bruins countered with a 10-0 run themselves and kept the pedal going on offense.

“You felt like you could get right back in the game,” Kent said. “We cut it to eight again, and we made substitutions in the game, and boom, the game got away from you again.”

Hamilton continued to score at a high mark for UCLA by tallying 15 of his 22 points in the second half. The Bruins also went at WSU in paint by getting the ball in the low block to senior center Tony Parker. The Atlanta native scored all 11 of points in the second half.

WSU junior forward Ike Iroegbu was the only bright spot for the Cougars on offense in the loss to the Bruins. Iroegbu again used his athleticism to cut through the UCLA defense and often finished at the rim. He scored a team high of 16 points.

“Obviously we’ve taken a step backward before we go forward again with this season that you really got to take games like this and just move them aside and get ready,” Kent said.

The Cougars return home this week to face the Arizona schools of the Pac-12 Conference. WSU will play No.18 Arizona (17-5, 5-4 Pac-12) at at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Beasley Coliseum. Pac-12 Networks will televise the game.

Reporting by Evan Baron