It’s March, but the only madness Saturday at McArthur Court came from the UCLA bench.
The Oregon men’s basketball team curbed the excitement of a tight game as it jumped out to a 13-0 lead and cruised to a 79-48 win over the Bruins in front of a sold-out crowd at Mac Court. The 31-point margin was the Ducks’ largest victory ever against UCLA.
In their final home game of the season, the Ducks (20-7 overall, 10-6 Pacific-10 Conference) reached the 20-win benchmark in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1939. Only one Pac-10 team with 20 regular-season wins has ever been excluded from the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s nice to be excited about March Madness,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “But there’s no way that we’re going to say we’re in. We want to go out and win more.”
But they had to take care of the Bruins (7-18, 4-12) first. And that didn’t take long. Which left the 9,087 fans at The Pit to bid farewell to two Ducks — and possibly a third.
Seniors Robert Johnson and Brian Helquist were honored before and after the game, and ended their two-year careers at Mac Court with a 30-2 home record.

Junior point guard Luke Ridnour, who led the Ducks with 21 points and eight assists Saturday, was given a standing ovation when he exited the game with 1:26 remaining. He hugged Kent and everyone else on the bench as the crowd chanted “One more year.”
Ridnour may opt to enter the NBA draft after this season.
“It’s cool to know that fans appreciate not only what I’ve done, but what the team’s done the last couple of years,” Ridnour said. “It’s a neat feeling and a credit to my teammates that I can ever consider leaving early (for the NBA).”
The Bruins played like they wanted to leave the building early Saturday. In the midst of one of the worst seasons in its history, UCLA didn’t sink its first field goal until the 12:26 mark of the first half. By then, Oregon was already ahead 19-4.
UCLA shot 22.2 percent in the first half and 24.6 percent for the game. Ray Young (10 points) was the only Bruin to score in double figures. Jason Kapono, UCLA’s leading scorer, didn’t make his first shot until there was 6:52 remaining in the game and was held to just five points on 1-of-8 shooting.
“That was the best defensive execution of the game plan all year,” Kent said. “It’s nice to see at this time of the year.”

Steve Lavin, likely making his last trip to Mac Court as the UCLA head coach, said Saturday was “the worst of the worst” for the Bruins.
“Obviously we’re not playing well this year, and we’re playing a team that’s hitting on all cylinders,” Lavin said. “We played as poorly as we’ve played all season. We just couldn’t hit a shot.”
Lavin was called for a technical foul early in the game after Luke Jackson and James Davis hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Ducks a 6-0 start. Similar to USC coach Henry Bibby, who was given a technical on Thursday, Lavin said he was simply signaling to call a timeout.
“I was pretty animated,” Lavin said. “Maybe (the ref) thought I was giving myself a technical. With the kind of season we’ve had, I deserve many more technicals.”
Oregon hit 14 three-pointers, shot 47.4 percent from the field and had 22 assists on 27 field goals. Jackson had 16 points and seven rebounds; Davis had 12 points, all on threes, and Andre Joseph, who returned from his suspension on Thursday, added 10 points off the bench.
Johnson highlighted the win late in the game with the first three-pointer of his career, giving Oregon a 77-44 lead.
“This team was focused and made an extreme statement,”
Kent said.