Before Saturday, the Oregon men’s basketball team had lost 16 straight games at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins’ stifling full-court press made sure that streak went to 17, as UCLA (12-5 overall, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) handed the Ducks (11-6, 2-5) their second-straight loss, 98-88, in Los Angeles.
“They wore us down,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN after the game.
The Ducks took a 48-42 lead into halftime Saturday and appeared to be in control, despite Bruin guard Earl Watson’s two quick three-pointers to end the half. But UCLA’s full-court press fatigued Oregon in the second half, as the Bruins outscored the Ducks 56-40 to notch the victory.
“The game turned aggressive in the second half, and we didn’t handle it very well,” Kent said. “We just ran out of gas.”
UCLA held on to second place in the Pac-10 with the victory, while Oregon will stay in the bottom third of the conference after dropping both games on its Southern California road trip.
Foul trouble and turnovers plagued Oregon in the second half of Saturday’s game. The Ducks committed 16 turnovers in the second half, compared to seven in the first frame. Defensively, three Oregon players — Luke Jackson, Chris Christoffersen and Flo Hartenstein — all fouled out of the game.
Christoffersen was the biggest loss, as he left the court in the middle of his best effort in an Oregon uniform. The 7-foot-2 center netted a career-best 15 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes of action and played good defense against UCLA’s big man Dan Gadzuric.
“We saw Chris come of age,” Kent said. “That alone was worth this trip down here.”
Bruin forward Matt Barnes carried the offensive load for UCLA, scoring a career-high 26 points. UCLA forward Jason Kapono added 18 points despite an injured shooting wrist.
Kapono’s biggest points came with 11:22 on the clock in the second half, when UCLA broke the game open. With the game tied, Kapono hit two free throws to put the Bruins in front 64-62.
Oregon’s Luke Ridnour then hit a three to put the Ducks up by one point, but Kapono answered with a three-point play of his own when he was fouled by Christoffersen on a layin.
After a steal on the Ducks’ next possession, Kapono nailed a trey from the corner to put the Bruins ahead for good.
Oregon led at halftime mostly because of its efforts from the free-throw line in the first half. The Ducks hit 17 of 19 free throws in the half, scoring more than a third of their points from the charity stripe. Oregon ended the game shooting 29-for-35 from the free-throw line.
In the scoring column, the Ducks were led by Freddie Jones, who had 22 points, and Bryan Bracey, who notched 20 points. Bracey, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, sat out for much of the second half because of a calf injury, but came back late in the contest.
The Ducks played both games on their road trip without starting center Julius Hicks, who sprained his ankle before last Thursday’s matchup with Southern California.
“No question he could have helped us this weekend,” Kent said. “But at the same time, it gave Chris a chance to step in and show us something.”
Oregon will now take its 2-5 conference mark into four home games with the Pac-10’s best teams. Arizona and Arizona State come to McArthur Court on Thursday and Sunday, respectively, while Stanford and California will be in Eugene the following weekend.
“We are learning some lessons as a team as we go through this first round of games, and hopefully we can come home and make the adjustments we need to make,” Kent said.
Oregon’s game with Arizona will tip off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.