EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; About five minutes into the second half, it appeared that the No. 8 UCLA men’s basketball team would finally be forced to pay for the concussions sustained in its Jan. 19 home loss to USC.
Both Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata-Real sat on the sideline and watched James Keefe pick up his fourth foul just minutes after Alfred Aboya had picked up his own.
And there was only so much the duo could do from the bench.
“A lot was going through my mind,” Mata-Real said. “I just told Alfred, “˜No more fouls.'”
Aboya took the words to heart and avoided picking up a fifth and final foul, but Keefe fouled out with 9:22 left after hitting a pivotal 3-pointer from the top of the arc, which cut the Oregon lead down to three points.
But with Aboya in foul trouble, UCLA coach Ben Howland had to use his power forward sparingly, bringing in sophomore Nikola Dragovic on offensive possessions down the stretch.
It was Dragovic who hit one of the biggest shots of the game, bringing the Bruins within one point with just under three minutes remaining in the second half.
“Nikola’s 3 late in the game was unbelievable because we were down by four, and we expect him to hit those shots,” Howland said.
While Dragovic is one of the top shooters on the team, his performance in games this season has been subpar, shooting just 20 percent from downtown.
Junior Darren Collison and his teammates were aware of his abilities, but, like Dragovic, they had been waiting to see results in a game situation, and they couldn’t have asked for a better time.
Collison and sophomore guard Russell Westbrook also played crucial roles down the stretch for the Bruins, with Westbrook recording a steal on the defensive end before turning it into two points on the offensive end in transition, giving UCLA its first lead in over 13 minutes.
“He played real well down the stretch when we needed him,” Collison said of Westbrook.
Westbrook and the rest of his teammates were able to respond to their nine-point loss and an even bigger loss in the sidelining of Mbah a Moute and Mata-Real.
“It was a really gutty performance considering where we are right now with our health issues,” Howland said.
“Between Mike Roll, Luc and Lorenzo, we’ve got three of our top seven players and three players from last year’s Final Four team (sitting out).”
HAIRSTON FORCED TO SIT: The Ducks faced a tremendous obstacle when senior guard Malik Hairston began cramping in the second half and had to leave the court to go to the locker room.
Prior to his injury, Hairston had been scorching the Bruin defense, scoring 12 points in the first half while creating shots for himself.
“Malik leaving the ball game was huge,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.
“He played an unbelievable game. It was unfortunate that he had to sit for 11 minutes.”