Written by Kyle Boone at CBSSports.com
Coming off a stunning 27-point throttling of Arizona on Saturday, No. 5 Oregon wanted to establish a similar dominance again on the road vs. No. 10 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday.
The Ducks did just that for a while, but squandered a 19-point lead in a 82-79 loss to the Bruins.
With a red-hot start from Dillon Brooks, who finished with 19 points, Oregon silenced the home crowd in the first half. The stingy Ducks defense stifled the high-flying UCLA offense as the Bruins’ rhythm was amiss offensively, scrounging up just 39 points and notching zero fast-break points before halftime.
But the second half was a completely different story. The shots came pouring in as the friendly rims favored the home team, and Lonzo Ball came alive down the stretch to lead the team to a thrilling comeback victory.
Ball finished with 15 points and led the team in rebounding with 11 but only had one assist.
Here are four takeaways from the Bruins’ toppling of the Ducks:
1. UCLA proved it can overcome bad defense with good offense
This game wasn’t one where the Bruins turned on the defensive motor and got after Oregon to play catch-up. It was one where UCLA finally got its best player in Ball playing up to his potential and making everyone around him better when he caught fire.
Against a team like Oregon, which boasts the 16th most efficient adjusted defense in the country, the Ducks had no answer for UCLA’s spread attack in the second half. Five players scored in double figures to cap the night, so there wasn’t any one particular player to hone in on.
When Ball and Bryce Alford started stroking it from long-range, it opened up opportunities elsewhere when the defense keyed in on them. The quiet MVP of the night off the bench, Aaron Holiday, hit shot after shot down the stretch, including one that gave UCLA its first lead.
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