In the final Pacific-10 Conference road trip of his career, senior Tajuan Porter delivered in a big way.
First it was a 16-point effort, including a three-pointer in the closing minute to ice the game against the USC Trojans on Thursday. Then on Saturday, it was a 29-point effort against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavillion to lead Oregon to a 70-68 win.
“I just wanted to come here and win a game,” Porter said. “Pauley Pavilion is a historic building and I just wanted to get one win here.”
Porter, who had been going through a bad slump the past few weeks, helped Oregon win at UCLA for the first time since Jan. 30, 2003. Porter was a part of three of those losses, and he said enough was enough. With 50 seconds to play and the score tied at 65, Porter hit a three-pointer to give Oregon the lead for good.
“I had a little space and hit the shot,” Porter said. “I had them on their heels all game because I’d mixed up threes and driving.”
UCLA’s Jerime Anderson committed a turnover with 27 seconds left, and Jeremy Jacob then made two foul shots to seal the win for Oregon. Michael Roll’s three-pointer with less than a second remaining completed the score.
Porter’s go-ahead three was his seventh of the night, and it stopped the Bruins from winning on Senior Night after they had rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit.
“He did a good job these two games of not only scoring, but his leadership has been phenomenal,” head coach Ernie Kent said. “He’s made all the difference in the world for us.”
Oregon (14-14 overall, 6-10 Pac-10) completed the sweep of UCLA (13-15, 8-8) for the first time since 2002-2003, and it was the first time they swept the Los Angeles schools since the 2001-2002 season. The only other Duck in double-figures was sophomore Jeremy Jacob, who tied a career-high with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“I opened it up for the bigs, and the bigs were scoring, and that opened it up for me,” Porter said, although center Michael Dunigan didn’t score in seven minutes of action.
For the Bruins, Michael Roll tied his career high with 25 points, Malcolm Lee scored 18 and Tyler Honeycutt scored four points to go with 13 rebounds and nine assists. Kent said the 14-point comeback was troubling because of the offensive weapons the Bruins have.
“You’re at their building, and they have good players and they hit some big shots,” Kent said. “Every time we broke down, they made us pay for it.”
For the game, Oregon shot 46.4 percent, but the Ducks were outshot by UCLA, which managed 54.9 percent. Where Oregon excelled was behind the three-point line, where the team hit 10-of-14 shots for a season-high 71.4 percent.
Porter, the senior from Detroit, ruined UCLA’s Senior Day by matching a season-best 11 field goals. He scored 16 first-half points and stymied the UCLA defense all game long.
“If TP’s playing like that, you can do anything,” Kent said.
Porter was 7-for-9 from behind the arc, and the field goals pushed his school-record career three-point total to 334. He is also marching closer to the Pac-10 Conference record, and he needs just nine more to break the mark set by Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire from 2002-2005.
The Ducks enter the final week of the Pac-10 season tied for last in the conference with Washington State, and will play Washington and the Cougars this week in Eugene. Kent says he thinks the conference tournament is still wide-open, and with a couple of wins, Oregon can guarantee a winning record.
“We’ve been through so much this year,” Kent said. “With each win, with each bucket, our confidence grows.”
Notes

Oregon’s win against UCLA and Oregon State’s 49-44 win over USC on Saturday marked the first time since Feb. 20, 2003, that both Oregon schools had won a Pac-10 game on the road on the same day. On that day, the Ducks beat Washington State 89-70 and the Beavers beat Washington 80-72.
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