EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; As soon as Jordan Farmar’s pass
floated into the stands, a look of confusion crept across his face.
It was a pass to teammate Michael Roll, who wasn’t there.
Farmar’s arms went up in the air.
He then looked into the sky as if to ask, “What else could
go wrong?” Then he smiled and went back to playing
defense.
It was that type of night for Farmar and the No. 17 Bruins, who
beat the Oregon Ducks 56-49, behind a tenacious effort that
overshadowed any miscues on offense.
Consistency lacked in virtually every area for the Bruins, yet
they seem to play their best amid adversity. And Farmar was the
catalyst.
The sophomore guard found himself on the bench in the second
half, and Oregon fans began chanting, “Where is Farmar?
He’s on the bench.”
In the end, Farmar was everywhere UCLA needed him to be in the
final seven minutes of the game.
“Coaches were saying it’s my turn. It’s time
to make something happen,” said Farmar, who had 14 points and
three steals, two of which were in the final four minutes of
play.
“We found a way to win on the road, and that’s
important because in March you’re never home
anymore.”
On a night in which the No. 17 Bruins (16-4, 6-2 Pac-10)
captured sole possession of first place in the conference after
Washington’s loss to Cal, they looked sloppy early on.
Oregon (10-10, 4-4) joined them. Erratic play on both ends of
the court plagued each of the teams at the start of the game and
into the second half.
But defense was what gave the Bruins the victory. Holding the
Ducks to a season-low 49 points, UCLA was able to hold Oregon to
just one field goal with 12:18 remaining in the game.
The Bruin defense gave up just six points, all on free throws,
down the stretch to forward Ivan Johnson.
Farmar’s defense sparked the Bruins. He picked Oregon
guard Brandon Lincoln clean at the top of the key. That led to a
fast-break layup to give UCLA a two-point lead at 47-45.
Farmar leaped up in the air, intercepted a pass by Aaron Brooks
and fed Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. The freshman forward was fouled,
but he made both free throws, giving UCLA a 49-45 lead with 3:27
remaining.
“When you win on the road in a tough game like this,
it’s big,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “You have
to have a team that can rely on defense when things aren’t
going well. We were really poor in terms of execution.”
UCLA had to rely on defense down the stretch as the Ducks’
defense thwarted any offensive movement by the Bruins. UCLA fired
ill-advised shots all night long, sometimes from four feet beyond
the 3-point arc. They had no post player option, and their shot had
abandoned them.
Everything the Bruins did was on isolation. And even then it was
very little. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, UCLA
converted just three baskets.
With a crowd of 9,087 behind them, Oregon used an 11-2 run to
overtake the Bruins. The crowd waited, gasping for a Duck basket.
Oregon got its biggest lead of 39-35 after Brooks’ 3-pointer
from the corner.
But Farmar wasn’t worried.
“They’re a team of runs, and the crowd fuels
them,” he said. “They made one shot after another,
putback, offensive rebounds, defensive plays. They get on these
runs, and you can’t do anything but wait on it. Sooner or
later, it’ll die down and you can get yours.”
Farmar got his.
He scored on a six-foot leaner to trim Oregon’s lead to
42-39 with 7:07 remaining. He ran a three-on-one fast break that
led to a 3-point play by UCLA guard Arron Afflalo to tie the game
at 42-42.
“We watch time and time again, Jordan and Arron taking
over the game,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.
“They ran no plays we haven’t seen. (Farmar) just
made great basketball decisions. In the last four, five minutes of
the game, we made some bad decisions.”
With 2:15 left in the game, Farmar, who finished with four
assists, dished an underhanded pass in traffic to Alfred Aboya, who
laid it up and gave the Bruins a 51-46 lead with 2:15 to go.
UCLA went on a 14-4 run at that point, but Howland attributed
the Bruins’ win to Farmar’s all-around leadership down
the stretch.
“My expectations are for him to look more aggressive and
look to the basket,” Howland said.
“But not only that, he made defensive plays, and
that’s what’s neat. That’s what’s exciting;
that’s growth. He made plays that helped win the game on the
defensive end.”