In a matchup pairing legendary John Wooden’s alma mater against the program he coached to 10 national championships, No. 20 Purdue will face UCLA in a Big Ten Conference game in West Lafayette, Ind., on Friday night.The two programs that the late Wooden is associated with played most recently in December 2000. Friday’s meeting will be their first as league counterparts, and the Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6) and Bruins (20-8, 11-6) are jockeying for position in next month’s Big Ten tournament.They are tied for fourth place, with Purdue trying to pull out of a recent free-fall.The Boilermakers squandered a 12-point halftime lead their last time out, losing to rival Indiana 73-58 on Sunday for their fourth straight defeat.In a snapshot of that stretch, Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer told the Lafayette Journal & Courier that “small, minor mistakes just let it snowball from there” against Indiana.The disastrous second half against the Hoosiers came after Purdue had lost consecutive games to Top 25 opponents Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State.Pulling out of its tailspin before March is not all that is at stake on Friday for Purdue. Despite the slump, the Boilermakers are only one game behind in the win column to Big Ten third-place Wisconsin.A top-four finish in the league will earn teams an automatic bye to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, which will begin March 12 in Indianapolis.UCLA likewise is chasing a bye into the quarterfinals. The Bruins suffered a stunning slip-up at home on Feb. 18 vs. Minnesota, 64-61, but bounced back with a 69-61 defeat of visiting Ohio State on Sunday.”All wins are good wins (in) late February,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.Eric Dailey Jr.’s 20 points led the Bruins against the Buckeyes and marked a significant rebound for his scoring production. Despite averaging 11.6 points per game — second among all UCLA scorers behind Tyler Bilodeau’s 13.9 ppg — Dailey failed to reach double figures in points in the five previous outings.