SACRAMENTO, Calif. — LL Cool J had a great performance at Arco Arena on Saturday afternoon.
No, not the rapper. The trio. Luke Jackson, Luke Ridnour and Freddie Jones — jokingly dubbed “LL Cool J” by a major media outlet — carried the Oregon team to victory over Wake Forest in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Jackson tied a career high with 29 points in Saturday’s game. Ridnour shattered his career high with 28 points on the strength of a career-high seven three-pointers. Jones chipped in 24 points.
The three players scored 88 percent of Oregon’s final point total.
With 13:45 left in the first half, Chris Christoffersen made a dunk on a fast break to tie the game at 18. From then until Robert Johnson’s free throw with 17 seconds left in the second half — a span of 33 minutes and 28 seconds of game time — the trio scored every one of Oregon’s points.
It was a 71-point run by Jackson, Ridnour and Jones.
Jackson explained it simply.
“Ridnour started to take over a little bit,” Jackson said. “Then there were stretches in the game when Freddie stepped up. And when I needed to knock down shots, when it was my turn, I stepped up and did that.
“We’re all so competitive, and Wake Forest played such a great game, it was important for us tonight to give everything we had, and I felt like we did that.”
Had it not been for Johnson’s free throw and two freebies from Anthony Lever at the end of the game, the “LL Cool J” trio would have scored all of the Ducks’ points in the final 33:45 of game time.
“We would have hoped to get more production out of the bench,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “But we felt there was just such a great rhythm to the game.”
The threesome had 81 total points. Their previous high was 71 points in an overtime loss at Stanford in February.
The rest of the team took only 12 field goals to the trio’s 49, and perhaps the “supporting cast” deserves credit for letting the three hot players take over the game.
“It’s not just us three. The whole team wants to win so bad,” Ridnour said.
On the other side of the ball, the Wake Forest coaches were impressed by Oregon’s terrific trio.
“They could have played for the Kings, never mind Duke,” said Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser, referring to Sacramento’s NBA team.
Now the trio will be singing “Mama Said Knock You Out” on the way to Madison, Wisc., where the Ducks will face Texas in the Sweet 16 on Friday.