UCLA wasn’t ready for Oregon the last time the two teams met, when the Ducks upset the then-No. 1 team 68-66 on Jan. 6.
The No. 5 Bruins (18-2 overall, 7-2 Pacific-10 Conference) won’t make that same mistake when they take on the No. 9 Ducks (19-2, 7-2) for sole possession of the top spot in the Pac-10 in Los Angeles today.
“We know they’re going to be ready because of the type of guys they have on their team,” junior guard Bryce Taylor said. “They’re looking at it as a revenge game.”
Taylor spoke to UCLA’s junior center Lorenzo Mata on Tuesday, who told Taylor that “We’re going to be ready and we owe you guys for what you did – giving us our first loss,” Taylor said, recounting the conversation. “They’re still talking about the loss (to Oregon) today. They have pretty high standards over there.”
Taylor predicts that the game will be similar to the last contest, believing that UCLA’s stars will try to win the game toward the end.
“It’s going to be either Arron (Afflalo) or (Darren) Collison trying to take the game over,” Taylor said. “More than likely Arron because he takes pride in having that role of leading his team. It’s definitely one of those things you have to be aware of coming down in the end.”
Now that the Ducks have seen every Pac-10 team this season, their second run through the conference should allow them to improve on areas that they struggled with in the first go-around.
“Just get better and not make the same mistakes twice,” freshman point guard Tajuan Porter said. “We already know what they do and we know what we’re capable of, so it’s just some things we need to sharpen defensively and offensively.”
For Porter, he hopes to limit the amount of turnovers he commits. Porter turned the ball over a total of 10 times while the entire team had 37 during the Washington games. If the Ducks hope to beat the Bruins a second time, they can’t give them easy points.
“That’s been the key for me all season,” Porter said. “Cut down on my turnovers and stay solid.
“It’s just mental. We’ve been lackadaisical a little bit and we just have to continue to work and get better.”
Junior forward Maarty Leunen confirmed Porter’s assessment.
“We need to pick up things a little bit on the defensive end and learn from our lessons in the first time through the Pac-10,” Leunen said.
Leunen also said the team’s challenge will be to keep the Bruins from grabbing offensive rebounds, something the Ducks had trouble with in their last meeting.
“They did dominate us on the boards, so we figure if we can control that part of the game then we have a pretty good chance of winning,” Leunen said.
Taylor’s homecoming
Taylor, who is from the Southern California town Encino, said that during his recruiting experience in high school, he was on an unofficial visit to both USC and UCLA when he first learned how good Oregon basketball was.
“I was sitting there seeing some guys on Oregon that I had never seen before, like Luke Jackson and (Luke) Ridnour,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of ironic because I was down there on visits to USC and UCLA unofficially and it opened my eyes to see what type of program Oregon was about.”
Taylor said Oregon’s performance (beat USC 92-74, lost to UCLA 81-74) during the two games helped persuade him to enroll in the school.
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