No. 7 UCLA faces tough road test at rising Oregon

No. 7 UCLA might be out to keep up its place atop the Pac-12 Convention and full a season sweep of Oregon on Saturday in Eugene, Ore.

UCLA (20-4, 11-2 Pac-12) gained its third straight to stay a half-game forward of Arizona within the league race, routing Oregon State on the highway Thursday, 62-47.

The 47 factors have been the fewest the Bruins allowed any opponent on the season, the results of UCLA holding the Beavers to 16-of-45 taking pictures from the ground and forcing 18 turnovers.

“I assumed we have been going to carry them beneath 40 factors, which I really feel like is fairly loopy in a school recreation,” guard Jaylen Clark mentioned.

Clark, who contributed to the defensive effort with three steals, leads the Pac-12 in takeaways with 2.7 per recreation.

“This one is over and executed and now we’re wanting ahead to going again all the way down to Eugene,” Clark mentioned in his postgame press convention, including that successful at Oregon is “the largest objective. That is why we got here out right here.

“Profitable at residence, that is straightforward,” he mentioned. “You might have your followers. Your followers are going to get you 10 factors and pump you up.”

The Bruins beat the Geese at residence earlier this season, a part of an ideal 13-0 mark for UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. No UCLA staff has gained at Oregon since January 2019, nonetheless, a streak of three consecutive wins for the Geese over the Bruins at Matthew Knight Courtroom.

Oregon (15-10, 9-5) picked up its fourth consecutive residence win on Thursday in a dominant, 78-60 defeat of Southern California.

The Geese by no means trailed and constructed a lead of as many as 18 factors lower than 12 minutes into the competition.

“That was one in all our higher efforts” on the season, Oregon coach Dana Altman mentioned in his postgame press convention, evident within the Geese holding USC to its fourth-lowest scoring complete of the marketing campaign.

“We performed fairly laborious tonight and our depth was good,” Altman mentioned.

Depth was certainly an element, with seven Geese scoring earlier than halftime and 4 ending in double figures for the sport: N’Faly Dante with 17 factors, Will Richardson with 16, Jermaine Couisnard with 13 and Nate Bittle with 11 in lower than 18 minutes.

Richardson additionally dished 9 assists to tempo the Geese offense.

Oregon’s NET rating climbed from No. 53 to No. 50 with Thursday’s win, and the Geese boast three victories over fellow Pac-12 NCAA Match hopefuls within the final 4 video games, additionally beating Utah and Arizona State to go together with the defeat of USC.

A win Saturday would mark Oregon’s second at residence in opposition to a high 10-ranked league opponent after routing present No. 5 Arizona on Jan. 14, 87-68.

UCLA seems to counter the depth Oregon demonstrated on Thursday with a balanced and deep assault of its personal. 5 Bruins — led by Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s 16 factors per recreation — common in double-figure scoring.

Clark is posting 13.2 factors per recreation, Tyger Campbell is averaging 12.8 to go together with his practically 5 assists a contest, Amari Bailey is recording 10.6 factors per recreation and David Singleton averages 10.1 factors primarily coming off the bench.

–Discipline Stage Media