Bryce Taylor loves challenges.
That’s why at any one time you’ll likely find Oregon’s junior guard defending the opposition’s top offensive player whenever he’s on the floor.
“A lot of it is just your pride,” Taylor said of his defensive prowess. “You don’t want a guy to score on you and your coach is putting trust in you to try to take out an opposing team’s best player so you don’t want to let your teammates down. I feel like I have a lot of responsibility in doing that, but I enjoy it.”
Taylor has always possessed offensive abilities and a long-range game but it wasn’t until the offseason when he took it upon himself to improve on both ends of the court, which includes taking the ball to the basket more on the offensive end and becoming Oregon’s top perimeter defender.
“It really just comes with effort and being in good enough shape where you can focus on both sides of the floor,” Taylor said. “So for me, coming to college, I was never really a defensive player. It ended up that I was one of our best perimeter defenders, and I’ve just kind of grown into that role. I feel like I’ve improved a lot.”
Of course, it helps to face high-caliber players in practice nearly every day.
“These guys are as good as anybody else, I feel like,” Taylor said of his teammates. “So it just gets me ready and that’s the mentality I have in the game – I just pretend I’m trying to stay in front of Aaron Brooks, or trying to block Malik (Hairston) out or keep Champ (Chamberlain Oguchi) from shooting the ball.”
His energy exerted on the defensive end has also spurred his offensive game, Taylor said. He currently is third on the team in steals with 23 and second on the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game.
“I feed off of defensive rebounding and running the floor at the beginning of games,” Taylor said. “That’s where I get myself going. I feed off my defensive energy a lot.”
Oregon coach Ernie Kent believes Taylor has improved on the defensive end “50 to 60 percent from where he was last year.”
“We put him on the toughest guy night in and night out,” Kent said. “With his mental toughness improving and his conditioning improving, it’s allowed him to be a much, much better defender. He has the stamina and the energy to run guys down and really lock them down on a possession by possession basis.”
As for who his toughest matchup was, Taylor, not surprisingly, said USC guard Nick Young, a familiar opponent due to their shared Southern California roots.
Young scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting including the game-winner against Oregon in early January to hand the Ducks their first loss of the season.
The two meet again Saturday in Los Angeles but Taylor has another tough task at hand before that on Thursday with UCLA’s Arron Afflalo.
Trouble Bruin
A major key that led to Stanford’s 15-0 second-half run to upset No. 3 UCLA 75-68 last Sunday was the Bruins’ foul trouble, particularly with their big men, Lorenzo Mata, Alfred Aboya and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
Each had four fouls by the 9:39 mark in the second half, propelling Stanford to its impressive run. Combined, Mbah a Moute, Aboya and Mata finished with a combined 15 points and nine rebounds. The three had 13 points and 18 total rebounds to help UCLA outrebound the Ducks 35-22 in the two teams’ first meeting Jan. 6, a 68-66 Oregon victory.
The loss to Stanford, just the Bruins second of the season, dropped them to No. 5 in the polls and set the showdown for first place in the Pac-10 with No. 9 Oregon on Thursday.
Ready for action
Oregon forward Adam Zahn said he is “100 percent” and ready to make a full return Thursday against UCLA after suffering a concussion last week in practice that caused him to miss two games.
Zahn was part of the last Oregon team in 2002-03 to win at Pauley Pavilion against UCLA.
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