Between gulps from his plastic water bottle, a thoroughly exhausted Dana Altman surveyed the green and yellow mass sprawled across Matthew Knight Arena’s court.
Like a worried parent, the Oregon coach searched for, found and eventually fished guard Jacob Young out of the crowd of students before slinging an arm around his shoulder as they walked towards the locker room.
“Jacob wanted to stay out there for a slumber party, and we needed to get him back and get him with his team,” Altman said. “I think Jacob would still be out there if we would have let him.”
Young was busy taking in the moment at mid-court: distracted, basking in Oregon’s biggest home victory of the season with the raucous group of students that helped power his Ducks (18-10, 11-6 Pac-12) to a season sweep of UCLA and a ranked win to add to a postseason resume in dire need of a spark.
“So thankful for the students,” Altman said. “They were a big factor tonight, there’s no doubt about it.”
Amidst a season marred by inconsistent effort and flat showings, it was Oregon’s relentless drive that proved to be the difference in its 68-63 upset of No. 12 UCLA (20-6, 12-5 Pac-12) Thursday night.
After his Ducks delivered perhaps their most inspired performance of the year last week in a 84-81 loss to No. 3 Arizona, Altman delivered a message to his team in the locker room. He challenged them.
“What if we fought like that against every team?” he questioned.
Oregon can’t right the wrongs of games past, but on Thursday it proved that same level of hustle and frenetic play was replicable, holding UCLA to 36.8% from the field.
The Ducks found success in the places that have hurt them on so many occasions this season, overcoming 19 turnovers by out-rebounding UCLA 44-33 and hitting 19-of-24 free throws.
“We fought tonight,” guard De’Vion Harmon said. “They fought. We fought. That was a big boy, that was a grown man’s basketball game right there and how we competed, I love it.”
UCLA’s leading scorer Johnny Juzang left the game with a lower body injury 6 minutes before halftime and never returned to the court. Meanwhile Oregon’s most charismatic player, Franck Kepnang, ignited the arena.
Cradling a slim 27-25 lead, Young crossed over UCLA’s Tyger Campbell before dishing it to Kepnang for a ferocious dunk. Then the hulking Kepnang forcefully sent back a pair of Bruins shots over the next minute.
Will Richardson drilled an NBA-range 3-pointer in rhythm to cap a raucous sequence which eventually gave Oregon a 35-30 halftime lead.
“Franck’s effort in the first half carried us,” Altman said. “Got the crowd into it, really gave us a lot of energy.”
But in a win that sent students and other members of the crowd mobbing towards the court as time expired, there was no one star for the Ducks.
Harmon delivered a game-high 17 points; Young finished with 14, five rebounds and a team-high six assists; and Eric Williams Jr. hit all three of his 3-pointers en route to 11 points to go along with a host of difference-making defensive plays.
Then there was the Ducks’ leading scorer Richardson, who shot just 3-of-13 from the field and hit one of his seven 3s, but still managed to plant his fingerprints squarely in the middle of the upset.
“We all have tough shooting nights,” Harmon said. “That’s life, that’s part of basketball, but you keep playing man, you embrace it, you stay in the moment. Will stayed in the moment… He inserted himself into the game without his shot falling.”
He tied for a team-high nine rebounds, dished out four assists and collected a pair of steals.
Oregon nursed their halftime lead well into the second half, on one occasion pushing it to 13 with 14 minutes to go in the game. Only, UCLA strung together a 10-0 run minutes later, took the lead and sent the arena into a hush for the first and only time all night.
With the crowd hanging on their every move, the perimeter trio of Harmon, Richardson and Young scored 13 of the Ducks’ final 15 points. The only other bucket came off a Young lob pass to Williams Jr. which brought the house down.
“Sometimes those fans can pick you up, and they did tonight,” Altman said.
Oregon’s future remains up in the air, but Thursday’s upset goes a long way towards pushing the Ducks (No. 67 in NET Rankings) through to the postseason.
Tonight, the Ducks celebrated with their fans. In less than 48 hours, they’ll host No. 15 USC.
“[The players] know where we’re at,” Altman said. “They know we’re not in very good shape and our only hope is to keep winning games. Nothing else; you try to win games.”
