The Pacific-10 Conference’s top sophomores invade McArthur Court today for a pivotal showdown between the Ducks and conference leader No. 17 UCLA (15-4 overall, 5-2 Pac-10).
“We know it’s a big opportunity for us,” Oregon sophomore guard Bryce Taylor said. “They’re ranked highly and a highly respected team.”
The Bruins’ sophomore class includes their top two scorers, guards Jordan Farmar and Arron
Afflalo. Farmer, the reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, averages 13.4 points per game and leads the Pac-10 with 5.9 assists per game.
Afflalo averages 17.6 points per game, fifth among the entire league.
“They’ve got a great team, headlined by those guys,” Oregon sophomore Maarty Leunen said. “So it’s going to be a tough game for us. We know that they are in front of us for the Pac-10 race, so it will be a big win if we can get it.”
Both Farmar and Afflalo averaged close to 11 points per game in two games against the Ducks last season, both UCLA victories.
The Bruins won 70-62 in Eugene and then defeated the Ducks 73-61 in Oregon’s final game of the season.
“For them, Jordan and Arron pretty much make them go,” Taylor said. “Jordan at the point guard – he distributes the ball, and he can score with the best in the league. So we know that for us to be successful, we have to at least slow them down.”
To do so, the Ducks (10-9 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) will also rely on their crop of talented sophomores: guard Malik Hairston, Taylor and Leunen.
Hairston rescued the Ducks Jan. 19 in Pullman by connecting on two critical three-pointers in the final 12 seconds, sending Oregon to a 52-50 victory.
Hairston’s performance continued with his recent stellar play in the second half. In the last six games, he has scored 71 percent of his points in the final 20 minutes. Hairston has also reached double digits in 17 of the 18 games he has played in this season.
“He’s just starting to come into his own a little bit and feeling the confidence that he can step up and take over a game and hit big shots,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “That’s a good thing for us. Particularly late in the game he tends to do a really good job of wanting to take over a game and take the shots.”
Taylor, one of Oregon’s most consistent shooters, found his touch late on Saturday against Washington. The 6-foot-5 guard scored 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting, including 2 of 5 from three-point range.
Rounding out the trio of sophomores is Leunen, Oregon’s leading rebounder. He returned to the lineup Saturday after his ankle was injured earlier in the season against Stanford. Leunen practiced this week and is expected to be near 100 percent by game time.
Both the Ducks and Bruins are seeking to recover from losses against ranked opponents.
UCLA enters today’s game following a home loss to No. 9 West Virginia. The Bruins managed to erase a 17-point halftime deficit before the Mountaineers escaped with a 60-56 victory.
Farmar scored 22 points but West Virgina held Afflalo to four points and the rest of the UCLA starters to eight combined points.
But the Bruins, who are looking to improve to 3-0 on the road in Pac-10 play this season, received encouraging news prior to their trip to the Northwest this weekend. Senior forward Cedric Bozeman has been cleared to play roughly 8-10 minutes per half after injuring his left shoulder in practice on Dec. 27.
Nine UCLA players have missed games this season because of injuries, including a season-ending injury to sophomore Josh Shipp, who scored 20 points in the final meeting with Oregon last season.
“I think it is just going to make them even tougher yet, because they’ve had a lot of freshmen that have really done a nice job for them and now they’ve got some veteran players to mix in there with them,” Kent said.
The Ducks are seeking to avenge a 78-59 loss to No. 10 Washington. Today’s game is the first of four straight Oregon plays at home. The Bruins are also the third ranked team the Ducks will face in four games.
UCLA is on the road for the first time in five games.
“I think the biggest thing for us, we don’t look at it as four games as a whole, you just can’t do that,” Kent said. “We look at it as an opportunity to play a game on Thursday that we need to win.”
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