On the surface, the UCLA basketball team’s season-ending 86-75 loss to Kentucky in the Sweet 16 can be attributed to a defensive collapse evidenced by the Wildcats’ 50-point second half. It’s not nearly that simple.

In fact, it had little to do with UCLA’s often-criticized ability to guard.

Let’s start from the beginning.

UCLA coach Steve Alford has lamented missed opportunities in a low-scoring first half, but the 36-33 score in favor of Kentucky was uncharacteristic for both UCLA, the highest-scoring team in college basketball, and Kentucky, the ninth-highest scoring team. Call it a wash.

The game was decided in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

The most confounding number in the box score is UCLA’s 63 percent shooting in a second half during which its deficit grew from three to a final margin of 11 points. A closer look at the decisive 15 minutes reveals something even more shocking. The Bruins actually shot 69 percent during the portion of the game when their deficit increased from three to 13.

Given UCLA’s spectacular shooting during the stretch that lost it the game, there are two easy places to look for the fatal flaws. The Bruins’ historically great offense is actually one of them.

The national leader in assist-to-turnover ratio from a pool of 351 college basketball teams committed seven turnovers in the second half to Kentucky’s one. The Wildcats scored 14 points off turnovers to UCLA’s two over the course of the game, including seven to zero during the first 15 minutes of the second half.

It’s natural to blanket UCLA’s defense with the rest of the blame for Kentucky’s 50 second-half points, but the main culprit had nothing to do with UCLA failing to guard. An achilles heel reared its head when UCLA gave up 11 second-chance points during the first 15 minutes of the second half alone. The Wildcats had 13 second-chance points all game.

Kentucky scored those 11 points courtesy of five crucial offensive rebounds during the decisive stretch. And it actually grabbed two additional offensive boards during the first 15 minutes of the second half, giving them seven to UCLA’s zero during that portion of the game.

UCLA center Thomas Welsh fouled out, but the 7-footer’s absence can’t be blamed for Kentucky’s offensive rebounding success. He played the first 14 minutes and two seconds of the second half before picking up his fifth foul as the Wildcats collected their sixth and final offensive rebound of the game’s most critical stretch.

Kentucky was shooting exactly 50 percent in the second half by the time forward Derek Willis made a jumper to give it a 13-point lead with 5:15 to play. UCLA’s second half shooting percentage to that point was 69. The difference was Kentucky had 26 field goal attempts by that point. UCLA had 16.

The massive differential in shot attempts is the best illustration of the cost of UCLA committing seven turnovers and giving up six offensive rebounds in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

That is the framework for UCLA’s demise, but there are details within the details.

The Bruins’ three-point halftime deficit was all but nullified when Bryce Alford’s 3-pointer pulled UCLA within one with 14:40 to play. Kentucky’s Malik Monk missed a 3 on the other end, but Willis secured his second offensive rebound in less than four minutes and fed Dominique Hawkins for a jumper to restore the halftime lead.

Kentucky star De’Aaron Fox earned three of his NCAA tournament record 39 for a freshman on a breaking lay-up off a steal by Hawkins less than two minutes later. His free throw to complete the three-point play gave Kentucky a six-point lead.

There was a little bad luck sprinkled in for UCLA when a couple possessions later, Lonzo Ball blocked a shot only for the ball to end up in Monk’s hands for a 3-pointer with 11:27 to play that swelled UCLA’s deficit to nine.

UCLA’s Aaron Holiday responded with a lay-up that cut the deficit to seven that could have sparked a crucial run for the Bruins, considering Kentucky missed its next four shots. But UCLA committed two turnovers and gave up a Kentucky offensive rebound over the next two minutes.

Instead of Isaac Hamilton’s 3-pointer punctuating a significant run, it only cut the UCLA deficit to four. The Wildcats responded with 3-pointers on their next two possessions to restore an eight-point lead.

UCLA failed to take advantage of another Kentucky drought, this time offsetting three Wildcat misses by giving up two offensive boards and committing a TJ Leaf turnover. By the end of the three-minute, 36-second stretch that began when Hamilton’s 3-pointer pulled UCLA within three, Kentucky had strung together an 8-0 run that built and an insurmountable 13-point lead with 5:15 to play.