UCLA reverts back to old habits in 93-68 loss to Colorado

Murry Bartow jammed the tips of his fingers into the palm of his other hand to signal a timeout. He walked onto the court and whirled around, placing his hands on his hips as if to indicate he was searching for some solution to materialize in the thin mountain air.

The UCLA interim coach’s team had talked this week about sustaining its recent growth, about not getting complacent.

What the Bruins unveiled Thursday night at the Coors Events Center looked a lot like the team that had struggled to defend or master basketball basics over the season’s first 3 1/2 months before rolling off three straight wins at home.

That success ended with an emphatic reminder of UCLA’s lingering flaws during a 93-68 loss to Colorado that was so lopsided the Bruins played the final 2 1/2 minutes with two walk-ons roaming the court.

UCLA was outplayed in all phases, befuddled by a man-to-man defense that held the Bruins to a season-low six assists and unable to stop the Buffaloes from continually slipping behind their varying zone defenses for dunks.

“We tried different lineups, we tried different rotations, we tried to play different defenses,” said Bartow, who also tried to slow a Colorado run with his soul-searching timeout with about seven minutes to play and his team down by 17 points.

None of it worked as UCLA (16-14, 9-8 Pac-12 Conference) fell into a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings with one game left to play in the regular season.

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We knew what we were getting into, we knew what was at stake,” Bruins point guard Jaylen Hands said, “but we didn’t get it, so we’re not going to sit there and harp on it because we can’t go back in time and play again. We’ve just got to think what we’re going to do going forward.”

The Bruins will need to beat third-place Utah on Saturday to have any chance of getting a top-four seeding and accompanying first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament next week.

Hands continued his recent scoring barrage with 18 points but had a season-low one assist to go with three turnovers.

He missed a three-pointer that could have cut the Bruins’ deficit to 12 points with about 7 1/2 minutes left, one of their last chances to rally.

“You miss it and you look up and you lose by 25,” Hands said, referring to what became the Buffaloes’ biggest margin of victory ever against the Bruins. “It was just not a good performance by us on both ends.”

It was an inspired showing by the Buffaloes (18-11, 9-8), who are part of that four-way logjam alongside the Bruins and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after notching their fourth consecutive victory in the series.

The sustained lack of success against what’s generally considered a second-tier conference foe is just one reason UCLA finds itself searching for a new coach.

The Buffaloes acknowledged being fueled by their alleged inferior standing against a team stocked with NBA prospects.

“I think we took these matchups personally, we got tired of hearing certain guys’ names over and over,” Colorado guard McKinley Wright said. “Before the tip, I told my guys to take their matchup personally and everybody did.”

No one appeared more motivated than Colorado guard Tyler Bey, who powered his way to seven dunks and 27 points to go with 13 rebounds after constantly outmaneuvering Bruins defenders who were caught out of position. Buffaloes guard Shane Gatling added 26 points in a strong encore to his 28-point performance when these teams met in February at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA forward Kris Wilkes scored 19 points but made only six of 16 shots and center Moses Brown was a nonfactor with three points and three rebounds to go with his four blocks. Brown did not take his first shot until there was 12:45 left in the game, and his teammates’ inability to get him the ball felt like a talking point from December.

“I know he probably gets frustrated being down there and not touching it and it just goes downhill from there,” Wilkes said.

UCLA opened the game making only one of its first 10 shots and things got only slightly better as it finished shooting 35.9%.

At one point shortly before halftime the Bruins had more turnovers (seven) than field goals (six).

The deficiencies left Bartow with plenty to contemplate in a season that’s mercifully nearing its end.

“I don’t know if it was a step back,” he said, “but it was not a good performance.”

UCLA next

Saturday at Utah, 4 p.m. PST, Huntsman Center, Pac-12 Networks — The Bruins will be seeking payback for a 22-point meltdown against the Utes at Pauley Pavilion last month that ended with Parker Van Dyke’s buzzer-beating three-pointer.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch