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It was supposed to be T.J. Cummings' night. It ended up, according to him, being all his fault.

On the much-anticipated day when Cummings had officially gotten his grades up, UCLA, lucky to have gotten off to such a good start without its senior forward, came crashing down to Earth, losing 61-60 to UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

"I'll take this on my shoulders," said Cummings, who had his eligibility restored just hours prior to tip-off. "It's all on me."

It was Cummings who fouled Gaucho forward Casey Cook on a put-back attempt with 18.4 seconds remaining and UCLA leading 60-59. He then could only watch as Cook, who had game-highs of 15 points and six rebounds, made the two game-winning free throws.

Cook later stole point guard Cedric Bozeman's inbound pass to seal the win and allow UCSB (5-2) to extend its winning streak to four games.

If Cummings learned nothing else after hours and hours of studying, it was accountability. He had been declared academically ineligible in August, causing him to miss UCLA's two exhibition games and the first four regular-season games.

Cummings rebounded by passing 18 units in the fall quarter, but only pulled down one rebound in 26 minutes of play Wednesday.

"I should have been more of a monster in the paint," he said. "I really slacked out there."

UCSB held a 25-20 rebounding edge over UCLA (3-2). The Gauchos had 10 of their 12 offensive rebounds in the second half and seemingly got to every loose ball before the Bruins could.

"The bottom line is that (UCSB) wanted to win it more," said UCLA coach Ben Howland, a Santa Barbara native and former UCSB assistant. "I don't remember one time we dove for the floor on the ball, and I remember 10 times they were sprawled out on the floor. That's just being out-hustled on your own floor.

"They made their breaks. We didn't."

UCSB shot out in the second half, going on a 14-3 run and taking a 45-41 lead with 12:30 left. Chrismen Oliver's uncontested lay-in with 6:14 left gave the Gauchos a 55-50 lead--its largest of the game.

Dijon Thompson, who finished with 13 points on the night, responded with two 3-pointers, but otherwise, the Bruins failed to convert on their opportunities down the stretch.

Forward Trevor Ariza intercepted a Gaucho pass and flew in for a dunk to give UCLA a 60-59 lead with 40.1 seconds remaining. But on the ensuing possession, Ariza failed to properly block out Cook, whose offensive rebound won the game for UCSB.

"(Cook) kind of hooked me, but nobody could really see it," Ariza explained.

Said Bozeman, "We didn't rebound. That's why we lost the game."

Bozeman's subsequent driving lay-up went in-and-out with the ball going out of bounds to UCLA, but Cook stepped in to steal his inbound pass and flipped it behind his back to kill the remaining 2.4 seconds of the game.

"It's a heartbreaker," said Cummings, who ended up playing center in the final minutes.

Cummings, who scored 12 of his team-high 24 points in the first half, did not start. He checked into the game with 14:48 left and quickly assisted on a Thompson dunk before scoring his first points on a jumper in the midst of a 12-2 run that gave UCLA an early 21-13 lead. UCLA had a 35-31 halftime lead after Cummings scored eight of UCLA's final nine points of the half.

"T.J. really played within himself," Howland said.

And that, ultimately, might just have been the problem.