For about 20 minutes of game time, it looked like this might be another one of those special nights inside Matthew Knight Arena.
The crowd of over 10,000 fans was rocking, and Dana Altman’s squad was playing about as well as we’d seen all season. The No. 7 UCLA Bruins were struggling to keep pace, and entered the half trailing. The Ducks were in a good spot, needing a win like this to get a bid into the NCAA Tournament.
And then the second half happened.
I’m not sure what Mick Cronin said to his Bruins at the break, but it certainly hit home. UCLA came out of the half on a 13-0 run, quickly taking the lead and growing it from there. Oregon’s offense turned to dust and the easy looks that N’Faly Dante was getting inside were no longer there.
In the end, it was a blowout loss for the Ducks that left the remainder of the season in question. Oregon has five games left, all against the bottom teams in the conference, but even if they manage to go undefeated through that stretch, it’s unclear whether or not that will be enough to get them into March Madness. For 20 minutes on Saturday night, it looked like they wouldn’t have to worry about that.
And then the second half happened.
- The Ducks got out to as good of a start as you could ask for, with N’Faly Dante dominating down low and Oregon hitting their first three-point attempt. The Ducks took a quick 8-0 lead, forcing a UCLA timeout.
- UCLA battled back with an 8-0 run of its own to tie the game, and eventually went ahead 14-10 by the time the under-12 media timeout rolled around. The Ducks were able to battle back and ratchet up the defense, tying the game at 18-18 with 8 minutes to play.
- Oregon continued to pound it inside to N’Faly Dante, who flirted with a double-double in the opening 15 minutes of the game, while the Ducks took a 27-21 lead. Ultimately, Oregon went into halftime with a 33-30 lead.
- UCLA started the second half with a hot hand, jumping out to a 41-37 lead. The Bruins went on an 13-0 run while the Ducks missed their first 6 shots of the half.
- Jaime Jaquez caught fire in the second half, scoring 14 points in the first 10 minutes of the half and really stretching out UCLA’s lead. The Ducks were able…
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