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UCLA Basketball: Jaylen Hands’ 27 second half points fuels comeback

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 05: Jaylen Hands #4 of the UCLA Bruins passes the ball down the court against the California Golden Bears during the second half at Pauley Pavilion on January 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 05: Jaylen Hands #4 of the UCLA Bruins passes the ball down the court against the California Golden Bears during the second half at Pauley Pavilion on January 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) /
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For the second time this season, the UCLA basketball team completed a comeback against the Oregon Ducks. This time it was fueled by a massive second half by Jaylen Hands as the Bruins got the win after being down by 19.

This has definitely been a roller coaster season for the UCLA basketball team and continued that narrative as they once again had a tale of two halves in their win over Oregon.

Just like their contest against Oregon back in Eugene last month, the Bruins overcame a sizeable deficit to claim the win over the Ducks, although this time it was Jaylen Hands who took control of the game to claim the victory.

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After a subpar performance in the first half, UCLA went into the locker room down 44-28. Oregon was out coaching, outplaying and simply outdoing the Bruins in every facet of the game. It seemed as though UCLA was just not into this game as they had low effort and low energy. That changed after halftime.

With 0 points to his name in the first half of this lame game, Jaylen Hands was not the same after the break as he could not be tamed. The sophomore went off for 27 points in the second half which was composed of 7/10 shooting from the three-point line. He also added nine assists and four rebounds to his stats.

Though UCLA was down, Hands made sure they were not out as he led the Bruins to a 62-39 second-half advantage. It was the most points in a half by the Bruins this season which came off of exemplary shooting. In the first half, the Bruins could barely make anything, shooting 35.7%. That script flipped in the second half as they shot an astounding 65.5% from the field and 76.9% from behind the arc.

But the points party did not stop with Hands as two other Bruins made an impact in this comeback. Kris Wilkes made his presence felt after the break as he dropped in 13 of his 20 total points.

Jules Bernard also had his best game of the season as he had 20 points coming off the bench. Between the three of these Bruins, they contributed 67 points to UCLA’s final 90. Such incredible effort.

Though they were down early, this team continued to fight, fight, fight which is a good sign going forward as there are only four games left in the regular season before the Pac-12 Tournament starts.

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With this win, UCLA is now only 1.5 games out of second place in the conference. The Bruns need to capture the second, third or fourth spot in the final standings if they are to get that first-round bye.