Legendary coach John Wooden roamed the sidelines and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still known as Lew Alcindor the last time the Gophers men’s basketball team played UCLA in Los Angeles before this week. That was a different era of college basketball,

The Gophers men’s basketball team were having a bear of a time with UCLA’s defense in the first half Tuesday. The Bruins were holding opponents to a Big Ten-best 64.8 points per game, and Minnesota managed only 23 points in the opening 20 minutes — the lowest total UCLA has allowed in conference play this season.

Minnesota has a history with UCLA in the NCAA Tournament, but Wednesday night was their first matchup at Pauley Pavilion since 1967. The red-hot Gophers staged a 17-point comeback to leave LA with an impressive 64-61 win over the Bruins.

Mick Cronin is one win away from his 500th career victory, and it doesn't sound like he's planning to achieve win No. 600 at Indiana or any other school.