For a little more than a half Monday night, UCLA was forced to contemplate the unimaginable.
Facing West Georgia, a team that was in its second season in Division I and had been given a 1% chance to win by the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy, the listless Bruins led by only five points early in the second half at Pauley Pavilion.
Even without star point guard Donovan Dent, who was being held out for precautionary reasons because of a muscle strain, this was uncomfortably tight. West Georgia’s bombs-away approach kept the score competitive, the Wolves taking — and making — one three-pointer after another.