The Oregon Ducks were defeated by the UCLA Bruins 71-63 on Saturday night. The game would have given the Ducks sole possession of the first place spot in the Pac-12 if they had won. But instead, the loss dropped them to third place in the conference behind the Arizona Wildcats and Washington State Cougars.

The game exemplified a couple of issues that have been present with Oregon throughout the season. Injuries have plagued the Ducks, including this contest where Oregon was missing Keeshawn Barthelemy and Nate Bittle for the second-straight game, as well as Mookie Cook and Jesse Zarzuela who have had prolonged absences. This has decimated the depth of the Ducks, who had just six players play 11 or more minutes in the game.

Fatigue for some of the starters, who all totaled at least 23 minutes, was something that had to be managed and played through, rather than head coach Dana Altman being able to rest his players for extended periods. Late in the game, UCLA exploited its personnel advantage to close the game on a 9-2 run. Oregon looked sluggish down the stretch, and was easily outran on the defensive end, and shut down on the offensive side.

This late game push by the Bruins also showed another weakness in the Ducks’ game plan this season: their lack of a go-to scorer. This Oregon team has plenty of players capable of scoring, but struggles to have a consistent leader on that end. In this game, it was the 16 points of N’Faly Dante and the 15 points of Jadrian Tracey that led the way for the Ducks. However, in a late game situation where Oregon needed to score, there was no easy option the Ducks could look to. 

Having no truly-defined first option can be an advantage, as it makes it harder for opponents to make a game plan to slow down scoring when they can not predict where it will come from on any given night. However, it can also be a weakness. That weakness of lacking a scoring star was on full display against UCLA. 

With no go-to scorer prevailing on Saturday, Oregon was held scoreless for the final four minutes of the game until Jackson Shelstad made a layup with six seconds left. This offensive drought existed throughout the final minutes because of a lack of ability to find good shots with consistency. The Bruins were able to guard the Ducks without having to worry about needing to double-team a massive scoring threat, which meant there were very few open catch-and-shoot opportunities for Oregon to exploit.

The Ducks also found themselves in foul trouble late in the game, which contributed to UCLA’s late run. Oregon had not been able to draw fouls with the same frequency as the Bruins for most of the second half, which meant that while UCLA was able to earn easy chances at the free-throw line because they were in the bonus, and the Ducks were not able to get those same opportunities. 

When Oregon had to crack down on defense, the fouls that come with playing aggressive defense hurt much worse, because it gave away points. This forced the Ducks to change their defensive game plan to foul less, which gave the Bruins more of an ability to get anything they wanted on the offensive end.

Overall, the Oregon loss in Los Angeles is a tough loss to take at this point of the Pac-12 season. It exposed many cracks that have been present in the foundation of the way this team has been built. However, it also offered a chance to address some of these shortcomings for the Ducks going forward, especially if they hope to find themselves playing in March Madness for the first time in three years. Oregon needs to be nearly-perfect to close out the season, or another NIT appearance seems imminent for the Ducks.

Oregon will have its next test on Thursday, February 8 at Matthew Knight Arena when the Washington Huskies come to town for a rivalry game.