The UCLA Bruins went into Sunday’s game against Oregon shooting just more than 35 percent from three-point range.
But the hostile confines of McArthur Court seemed to serve the Bruins well, as they awakened from their shooting slump to fire 59.1 percent from beyond the arc on the way to a 83-74 victory, marking the fourth win in their last five trips to Eugene.
“This was obviously a very important win for us,” said UCLA coach Ben Howland. “This place is so hard to play in and Oregon has a talented group … I wish for once we could show up here and not have the building so ready for us, but it’s a great crowd and a great college basketball atmosphere.”
The Bruins’ early-season struggles with the long ball were personified in senior guard Josh Shipp and junior forward Nikola Dragovic. Both are widely considered strong outside shooters but came into Sunday’s game hovering at around 20 percent from three-point range for the season.
Shipp was one of seven Bruins to hit a three-pointer in the first half, converting his only attempt as the Bruins went 8-of-10 from long range. Shipp exploded in the second half with 4-of-5 from beyond the arc for a season-high 17 points.
Dragovic hit 2-of-4 in the first half and finished 3-of-6 from downtown to total 12 points while adding five rebounds in the game.
“Those guys are some of our best shooters and when they have it going it makes it easier for me and easier for the big guys,” said UCLA senior guard Darren Collison. “You have to give Josh credit because he really played in the second half and was probably one of the reasons we won this game.”
Oregon continued to struggle with perimeter defense, widening its nearly two percent lead as the worst three-point defending team in the Pacific-10 Conference. Despite the Ducks’ penchant for giving up the long ball, Shipp said that the Bruins didn’t strategize specifically to shoot as many as they did.
“We have great shooters. Some nights we’re on more than others and tonight was one of those nights,” Shipp said. ‘We just try to win ball games, whatever it takes. Today it was the long ball.”
The hot shooting continued from the charity stripe, where UCLA converted 20-of-23 free throws to seal the win down the stretch. Collison connected on 9-of-9 to extend his streak of converted free throw attempts to 40 and set a new school record. The previous UCLA record of 36 was set in 1972.
Next up for UCLA is cross-town rival USC, Sunday, Jan. 11.
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Bruins rediscover outside shooting game Sunday
Daily Emerald
January 4, 2009
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