Maybe the Ducks should wear pink more often.
On “Coaches vs. Cancer” night and with Oregon great Larry Holliday and UCLA legend Bill Walton in attendance, the Oregon Ducks won a gutty 71-66 overtime thriller over the UCLA Bruins.
Sparked by 15 points off the bench from sophomore Matthew Humphrey, the Ducks overcame a 13-point first half deficit and a game-tying shot to win their first game since Jan. 2.
Oregon (11-9 overall, 3-5 Pacific-10 Conference) came out wearing white uniforms with pink numbers and bright pink shoes in honor of cancer awareness, and even though senior guard Tajuan Porter hopes the team doesn’t wear the color again, head coach Ernie Kent might think about keeping them around.
“I’m not superstitious about it,” said Porter. “Maybe the coaches are. Hopefully it’s a one-game thing.”
Porter’s comments drew laughter from the room full of reporters, but it was an unfamiliar position for him. There hadn’t been a lot to joke about on Oregon’s five-game skid, and Kent ratcheted up the toughness this week in practice to end the losing.
“This was a wake-up call,” said Humphrey. “We put the work in and got the job done tonight.”
It was Porter who started the comeback after the Ducks fell down 29-16 with 5:25 to play in the first half. Porter — who finished with 15 points — hit two of his three-pointers back to back to cut the UCLA lead to one point with 1:46 to play. It capped a 12-0 Oregon run.
“I got going and my teammates fed off of me and they got going,” he said.
Bruin Tyler Honeycutt, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, made two free throws with less than two seconds to go in the half that extended the UCLA lead to 31-28 at the break.
But the Ducks kept the momentum at the start of the second half; with 17:04 to go in the game and Porter hitting his third trifecta of the game to give Oregon its first lead of the game since the 14:49 mark of the first half.
“They did a good job,” Bruin head coach Ben Howland said. “Their defense was hard to attack.”
Kent’s decision to alter the zone defense his team had been playing paid off and the Ducks transferred it to confidence on the offensive end. After Bruin Michael Roll hit a three of his own to bring the score within one, Porter and Humphrey hit back-to-back threes to give Oregon a 47-40 lead with 12:10 to play.
Roll would play an even greater roll in the closing seconds of the game when, with 11 seconds left and the Ducks up 55-52, he hit a deep three-pointer over Humphrey to tie the game. On the subsequent drive, Porter missed a wild layup, and the game went into overtime.
In the extra period, the Ducks didn’t back down and Humphrey continued his hot shooting, with two three-pointers — the second of which he hit with the shot clock expiring and the Ducks up 58-57 with 2:30 to go.
That shot sent the crowd to its feet, but true freshman E.J. Singler sent the crowd into delirium with a follow-up putback on the next Oregon possession to give the Ducks a 63-59 lead with 1:07 to go. Singler added a layup and four free throws to score all eight of his points in the overtime.
“It’s the whole team, period,” said Humphrey. “You get your opportunity and you take it. It was me one time, E.J. another time, then T.P. … Everyone stepped up.”
Kent had nothing but praise for Humphrey, who has struggled this season with injuries and a personal issue that held him at home during the team’s Washington road trip.
“Matt Humphrey has worked his way back,” Kent said. “He was a great spark in the game on both ends of the floor.”
Oregon’s win marks the first victory against UCLA since the 2006-07 season when the Ducks beat the Bruins 68-66 at home on Jan. 6, 2007.
Starter Jeremy Jacob was the only other Duck in double figures, scoring 11 points to go with five rebounds. The Ducks shot 42.9 percent for the game and held the Bruins to 39.1 percent shooting.
Nikola Dragovic led the Bruins in scoring with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
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