The No. 8 UCLA men’s basketball team is 6-0 on the road so far this season. Oregon is 8-0 at home. So when the Bruins play the Ducks tonight on Oregon’s McArthur Court, one team will be giving up an undefeated record.
After losing at home to USC last Saturday, and with five of their next seven games on the road, the Bruins are hoping they’re not that team.
“We looked at a lot of our mistakes (against USC) and we’re trying to get a couple wins up at Oregon,” freshman center Kevin Love said. “All road games, especially at The Pit and (Oregon State’s) Gill Coliseum are going to be tough wins to get. We need to come out with more intensity this time and really show what we’re made of.”
UCLA (16-2, 4-1 Pac-10) will be short-handed as it tries to do so. Senior center Lorenzo Mata-Real and junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute both sustained concussions in the loss to the Trojans, and were listed as doubtful for the game as of Wednesday.
While Oregon’s record (12-6, 3-3 Pac-10) doesn’t seem too imposing, the Ducks are 3-1 against teams ranked in the Top 25 and were the first team to beat the Bruins last year, winning 68-66 at Oregon. The Ducks also lead the Pac-10 in scoring, averaging 80.4 points per game, and in three-pointers made, with 8.2 a game.
“They’re a very difficult matchup for us because they all shoot it so well,” coach Ben Howland said. “They spread you out.”
The Ducks have five players with double-digit scoring averages. That means the Bruins’ defense, sorely lacking at times against the Trojans, will need to return to its usually high level.
“Really, the whole team can (shoot the ball),” Love said. “Malik Hairston is going to be a tough match-up for us as well. I played against Kamyron Brown last year, when he was at Mater Dei. He’s a great player for them. They like to run the ball. They can all shoot and they can all drive. They’re an aggressive team that we’re going to have to play some tough defense on.”
UCLA is also preparing for the possible return of Oregon sophomore forward Joevan Catron, who had been averaging 10.8 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Ducks until he was sidelined with a foot injury at the end of December. Howland said he’d heard that Catron has been practicing this week, and could return against the Bruins.
“(Catron)’s a good player,” Howland said. “He was starting for them before that foot injury.”
While it’s still relatively early in the conference season, the Bruins realize that they can’t afford many more slip-ups like the one they had against the Trojans, if they want to have a chance at their stated goal of winning the Pac-10. UCLA’s players appreciate that Oregon, hovering at .500 in conference play, wants a win just as badly as they do.
“We have that sense of urgency again,” forward James Keefe said. “Coming from a loss, we (had) more focus coming into practice (this week). It’s almost a must-win for Oregon. It’s going to be good for us in the long run.”