This is the UCLA team Bruin fans have been waiting for. In a
matchup of conference supremacy, the No. 5 Bruins clearly showed
which team is the leader of the Pac-10 in a dominating 69-57
victory over the No. 9 Oregon Ducks in front of a rocking crowd of
12,113 at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday. “It was a big win for
us,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said. “We avenged our
first loss of the season and beat the team that was tied with us at
the top of the Pac-10.” Thursday’s game, the first
matchup of two top-10 teams at Pauley since Jan. 16, 1999, was
supposed to be a game of revenge after the Ducks (19-3, 7-3 Pac-10)
ended the Bruins’ undefeated start to the season. But the
game turned into an old-fashioned beating as UCLA (19-2, 8-2 Pac
10) opened the game with a 17-6 run and held as large as a 19-point
lead in the second half. “To beat a very good Oregon team
convincingly makes me very happy,” coach Ben Howland said.
“I thought we played a solid 40 minutes and kept up our
intensity the entire game.”
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The victory was critical for the Bruins in that it gave UCLA a
one-game lead in the Pac-10 standings, and helped the Bruins gain a
precious advantage in securing a possible No. 1 seed come NCAA
Tournament play. Most importantly, it helped the Bruins, who are
12-0 at home this season, rebound from their heartbreaking loss to
Stanford last Sunday. “Our team does not like to lose,”
sophomore point guard Darren Collison said. “We knew that we
did not do a good job of closing out that game, and we didn’t
want the same thing to happen tonight.” It was the
Bruins’ superior outside shooting that helped them jump out
to a big, early lead on Thursday. Afflalo, who led UCLA with 17
points, was the catalyst, hitting four of six 3-pointers in the
game, three of them coming in the first half. Afflalo also had
help from Collison and sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute,
who had one of his best games of the season with 15 points and 12
rebounds. Together, the Bruins combined for an exceptional 57
percent shooting from the field. “When everyone comes out
ready to play, it’s contagious,” Mbah a Moute said.
“Oregon had beaten us before, and we wanted to make sure it
didn’t happen again.” The big story line coming into
Thursday’s game was how the Bruins would stop the
Pac-10’s leading scorer Aaron Brooks, especially after Brooks
hit the game-winner against UCLA in early January. But during the
game, Brooks was mostly limited, finishing with 14 points on
5-of-13 shooting and not scoring in the first half until the Bruins
already had a 15-point lead. “He was letting the game come to
him and not forcing his shots,” Afflalo said of Brooks’
first-half play. “With his speed and quickness, we wanted to
make sure that he did not get on a streak.” Brooks and the
Ducks never quite got onto a roll, and the closest Oregon got was
60-51 with four minutes left. In fact, the Ducks, who had only two
players in double figures, shot a measly 36 percent in the game.
“We never let them get close,” Howland. “Our team
takes a lot of pride in their defense, and they wanted to bounce
back following the loss against Stanford.” “It shows a
lot about our team to have the resiliency to come back from the
adversity we had.” The Bruins now face conference-dweller
Oregon State in a matinee game on Saturday, and after learning from
last weekend’s trip to the Bay Area, the Bruins will only go
through a mild walk-through during today’s practice. Howland
does not want his players to lose their legs like they did in the
second half against Stanford. “They will be well-rested and
ready to play at 2:30 on Saturday,” Howland said. “I
can guarantee you that.” After UCLA’s convincing
victory over No. 9 Oregon on Thursday, just a quick pregame talk
against lowly Oregon State will probably suffice.
DRIBBLERS: Prior to the beginning of
Thursday’s game there was a moment of silence for former UCLA
track athlete C.K. Yang, who died from complications of a major
stroke Saturday. Thursday’s victory was the Bruins’
first win over a top-10 team at home since beating then-No. 1
Kansas in 2002. Thursday’s attendance of 12,113 was the
second-largest crowd at Pauley Pavilion this season. Oregon guard
Malik Hairston, who sat out the team’s first matchup,
finished the game with eight points. Two Scouts from the L.A.
Lakers, including longtime assistant coach Bill Bertka, were in
attendance.