UCLA Basketball: Bruins Use Defense to Comeback and Beat #5 Oregon
The #10 UCLA Basketball (22-3, 9-2) team, once down 19, came back behind a second half defensive effort to take revenge on the #5 Oregon Ducks (21-4, 10-2) in a 82-79 win.
Did you see it? Defense was Bruin. The UCLA Basketball team put the clamp down on Oregon with some uncharacteristically good defense in the second half as they limited the Ducks to 30.0% shooting.
Granted Oregon could not make a basket to save their lives as they went 10-for-30 after halftime, but when it mattered in the last 10 minutes of the game, UCLA, set up in man-to-man defense, suffocated the Ducks and asserted their dominance.
That might seem like a typo, but the fact of the matter is that UCLA dug deep to come back from nearly 20 points down and get their revenge against Oregon.
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Not only was this a big win because the Bruins avenged their first loss of the year when Oregon beat UCLA on a last second shot in the first game of the Pac-12 season or because they beat the #5 team in the nation.
This is a big win because UCLA is now only two games behind conference leading Arizona with six games to play.
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But let us quickly go back to the beginning of this game. Oregon had jumped out to an 8-2 start and it got worse from there as they pushed their lead to 19 halfway through the first. It looked as if the Bruins were going to have a repeat of the Arizona game.
UCLA’s sometimes tissue paper defense was in full force to start this game as Oregon drove the lane at every opportunity, and was not afraid to shoot from outside, which put the Bruins in a spot of trouble early.
With Oregon up by 9 at the half, 48-39, UCLA needed to desperately make some changes in the second. Well those changes had a huge effect as UCLA outscored Oregon 48-31 after the break.
The second half run was orchestrated by Lonzo Ball who turned it up after halftime. He finished with his 8th double-doube of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He also uncharacteristically only had one assist in this game.
Thomas Welsh was another key component in this win with his consistent mid-range shots in the second half. He finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block. Although, Aaron Holiday had a lot of energy and gave the Bruins a huge push at the end of the game and hit two free throws to extend UCLA’s lead and help secure the win. He finished with 15 points.
Though the Bruins’ offense usually shines in their games, it was their defense which was the best takeaway from this contest. If they can play this type of defense more consistently as the season winds down, then that will only mean good things for the Bruins and their NCAA Tournament aspirations. Go Bruins!