KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Forty minutes of basketball is a ridiculously small sample size in a season that spans from November to April.
Yet the team Wisconsin coach Greg Gard saw Tuesday night against No. 24 UCLA in the consolation game of the Hall of Fame Classic had to leave him encouraged even in defeat.
The Bruins overcame a seven-point halftime deficit and a five-point deficit in the final three minutes to stun UW, 72-70, on Aaron Holiday's drive with nine-tenths of a second left.
UW's length-of-the-court inbound play, a pass from Brad Davison to Ethan Happ, was broken up and time expired.
UW (2-3) suffered its third consecutive loss. All have come against ranked teams.
Holiday scored 14 of his 18 team-high points in the second half for UCLA (4-1).
Gard shook up his starting lineup with two moves.
Davison, who battled through a left shoulder injury one night earlier, started in place of redshirt sophomore Brevin Pritzl.
Redshirt freshman forward Aleem Ford replaced junior Andy Van Vliet, who had a combined two rebounds in the previous two games.
The moves resulted in a tenacious effort on both ends of the floor from the opening possession.
Davison contributed 14 points and drew four charges. He scored seven points and drew two charges in the opening half to help UW build a 38-31 lead.
Ford got into early foul trouble, as did Van Vliet when he came in.
Khalil Iverson, who struggled to finish in the lane against Baylor and finished 2 of 10, attacked the interior of UCLA's defense repeatedly. He finished at the rim in the opening half but committed two costly turnovers late. Iverson scored 12 points in the opening half and finished with 14.
Guard D'Mitrik Trice, who hit just 1 of 7 shots against Baylor, scored nine points in the first half and finished with 14 on 5-for-10 shooting.
Happ led UW with 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
With both teams shooting well early, neither the Badgers nor the Bruins could establish control.
UW outscored UCLA, 12-5, over the final 4 minutes 45 seconds of the half and Davison was the catalyst with a 3-pointer from the wing.
That gave UW a 29-26 lead and a steal by Davison led to a basket Trice.
Kobe King (nine points) and Iverson each hit a pair of free throws and Davison followed with another 3-pointer for a 38-26 lead with 1:49 left in the half.
