INDIANAPOLIS - Jaime Jaquez Jr. remembers the moment Mick Cronin introduced himself at UCLA, the new coach promising to restore the shine to the storied men's basketball program by instilling a mental and physical toughness the team had never experienced.
It came in handy Sunday night.
After watching second-seeded Alabama's Alex Reese take advantage of the Bruins' soft defense to drain a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and force overtime, Jaquez and the rest of his boys in blue were completely unfazed by the moment.
Instead, they scored the first five points of the extra period, then cruised from there to an 88-78 victory that gave the No. 11 seed Bruins their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2008 - and Cronin the first such appearance of his 18-year coaching career.
"When he came to UCLA," Jaquez said, "he basically preached the entire time, no matter what was going to happen, we were going to be a tough team, and we were going to be a defensive team. That was his whole attitude. No matter what happens, we're going to be the toughest team to go out and play."
Now, after beating Michigan State in overtime just to escape a First Four play-in game in the 68-team bracket, the unheralded Bruins are marching forward in the NCAA tournament. Next up is top-seeded Michigan in the East Region final Tuesday night for a spot in the Final Four.
"There's many times we could have packed it in," Cronin said, "but I told them they've put up with me for two years trying to pound into them toughness and competitive spirit. They allowed me to do it, and you're seeing the results right now."
UCLA thought it had the game won in regulation when Cody Riley's lay-in made it 63-62 with 14 seconds left, and Herbert Jones - a 75% foul shooter for Alabama - missed both of his free throws with six seconds left.
Singleton was fouled and made two free throws for UCLA, pushing the lead to 65-62 with four seconds to go. But that still gave the Crimson Tide enough time to find Reese, whose tying 3-pointer splashed just before the buzzer.
"I'm a foul guy," Cronin said of such situations, "but my concern was they knew, and when we went to foul he was going to shoot a 3-pointer and get fouled. The kids bailed me out and played great in overtime."
With star guard Johnny Juzang already fouled out, Jaquez and David Singleton took control.
Jaquez curled in a jumper to make it 74-68, then drilled a 3-pointer moments later to make it 77-70. Singleton's free throws made it 79-70 with less than a minute to go, and all UCLA (21-9) had to do was put the game away at the line.
AP photo by Michael Conroy / Alabama basketball players hug after losing to UCLA 88-78 in overtime in an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game Sunday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis."We weren't good enough to beat them tonight. They were better," said second-year Tide coach Nate Oats, whose team swept the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament championships. "We had all the momentum going into overtime. They could have folded. They didn't. They came out and punched us in the mouth."
Jules Bernard also scored 17 points, Singleton had 15 and Juzang and Tyger Campbell added 13 apiece for the Bruins, while Jahvon Quinerly scored 20 points and John Petty Jr. had 16 for the Tide.
Alabama (26-7) was just 11-of-25 from the foul line, missing both of its attempts in overtime, while losing for the eighth time in nine Sweet 16 games in program history. Its only Elite Eight trip was in 2004 - six national titles ago for the school's football program.
"There's zero variables in free throws other than the pressure you put on yourself mentally," Oats said. "I don't know if early misses by some guys made other guys miss. It's disappointing. We make them, we win the game."
With the sun setting through the upper windows of Hinkle Fieldhouse, casting a warm glow on the few thousand fans inside, the school known for its championship pedigree on the gridiron had struck the first blow on the hardwood.
The Tide jumped out to an early lead, even after Jones picked up two offensive fouls in the first 41 seconds, as their brilliant backcourt set the tempo. Quinerly kept breaking down the Bruins' perimeter defense, and Ellis did his best imitation of Petty, the school's career 3-point leader, by hitting step-back shots behind the arc.
For a while, Juzang singlehandedly kept the Bruins in the game. The transfer from Kentucky made enough baskets to slow down Alabama's up-and-down approach, and that allowed UCLA to turn the game into a half-court affair - or as Cronin calls it, a "judicious" style of play.
Then the rest of the Bruins got involved.
Singleton came off the bench to bury two 3-pointers. Jaquez, the hero of their First Four win over Michigan State, knocked down his own jumper. And Bernard hit a trio of 3s, turning one into a four-point play with a foul and the last of them giving UCLA a 40-29 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
Alabama promptly wiped out its deficit with an 11-0 run to start the second half, starting a back-and-forth clash over the final 15 minutes between a program that's no stranger to March Madness and one trying to prove it belonged.
Turned out that wasn't enough. It took five more minutes to decide.
Alabama led the nation in 3-pointers attempted and made this season, so it was fitting that a 3 would send the game to overtime. But the Tide hit only six others in the game, finishing 7-of-25 from beyond the arc.