LOS ANGELES — Maybe Sean Miller should have stayed home all week.
So sick Monday that he took a rare absence from practice, the Arizona coach watched his team suffer a second consecutive blowout loss, 90-69 to UCLA, with the Wildcats again appearing to lack any sort of rhythm or confidence without injured center Chase Jeter on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Arizona shot just 33.3 percent from the field and gave up 57.9 percent to UCLA, while the Bruins also crushed the Wildcats in rebounding, 47-30. The Wildcats managed to hit 8 of 26 3s (30.7 percent) after making 6 of 13 from long range in the second half, when the game was effectively over.
Combined with Arizona’s 80-57 loss at USC on Thursday, it was the worst scoring margin over a two-game Pac-12 weekend that Miller has ever had as the Wildcats’ head coach. Arizona has been swept three times previously in Los Angeles under Miller, but the two-game scoring margins were only five (2015-16), 16 (2012-13) and 30 (2010-11).
Arizona's scoring margin on the road trip this week was minus-44.
MORE: Arizona Wildcats take shellacking in Los Angeles with 21-point loss at UCLA
The Wildcats dropped to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-12. UA will face only a Thursday night game at ASU this week, before hosting first-place Washington on Feb. 7.
UCLA improved to 11-9 and 3-4.
The Bruins were led by forward Kris Wilkes, who had a career-high 34 points on 12 for 16 shooting.
Brandon Williams was a lone bright spot for UA offensively, scoring 19 points on 6 for 13 shooting. But the Wildcats overall were just as ineffective as they were at USC, where they shot just 27.8 percent from the field.
Brandon Randolph was 4 for 16 from the field while Ryan Luther was 2 of 9, Dylan Smith 2 for 7 and Justin Coleman 0 for 3.
Miller had tried to mitigate UCLA’s size by starting Ira Lee over Smith, and Lee responded with nine points and seven rebounds. Miller also inserted former walk-on Jake DesJardins in spots. Miller said after the USC game that his lineup was the smallest he had played in 15 years as a head coach.
DesJardins, a 6-6 forward who was awarded a scholarship before this season, was assigned to guard UCLA’s 7-1 Moses Brown. At one point, DesJardins picked up a foul while going up strong, but missed both free throws to wild cheers from UCLA students.
DesJardins had activated what is known as the “Brick-n for Chicken” promotion, in which all fans in attendance get a free Chick-fil-A sandwich when an opposing team misses two straight free throws in the second half.
Actually, it was a profitable night all around for UCLA fans. They also picked up a free "Skyslide" ride because UCLA hit eight 3-pointers (the Bruins were 9 of 23 from beyond the arc) and a free "sharable item" from Buffalo Wild Wings because the Bruins scored more than 82 points.
DesJardins’ misses left UCLA with a 55-35 lead early in the second half and the Bruins maintained at least a 20-point lead the rest of the way.
In the first half, Arizona put up almost an exact replica of its poor shooting first-half at USC, making only 23.5 percent of its shots and falling behind UCLA 38-25 at halftime. At USC, the Wildcats shot 21.2 percent in the first half at USC and trailed 36-19 at halftime.
