Oregon is closing in on the Pac-12 regular season title. The No. 13 Ducks have won all of their last three games and are looking to make it four in a row when they face the struggling UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles later tonight. The Bruins have two games remaining on their schedule, two games they need to win to boost their hopes of getting an invite to the National Tournament.
The Ducks are once again flawless in Eugene. By beating Washington 86-73 on Sunday, Oregon will finish this season with an 18-0 home record, the program’s fifth undefeated home campaign in history. The Ducks, however, aren’t that great away from Eugene this season, as they’re just 5-5 SU and 4-5-1 ATS in their past 10 road games.
Defeating UCLA at its home turf shouldn’t be that imposing of a task for Oregon. The Ducks beat ULCA back on February 8, 86-73, with Dillon Brooks leading the way with 25 points on 10-for-21 shooting from the floor.
Brooks has continued to score well, as he’s averaged 18.4 points since. He had 19 points in the Washington game, while Elgin Cook dropped a game-high 26 points against the Huskies. That’s the second straight game in which Cook’s scored at least 20 points. The rim may be as large as a pond to him again later tonight against UCLA’s sagging defense that has allowed an average of 77.0 points in its past two outings.
Oregon’s outside shooting could also spell the win for the Ducks this Wednesday. They’ve been better from beyond the arc of late, making 8.3 threes over the last three games. The Ducks shot 10-for-28 from deep in the first meeting with UCLA.
The Bruins are in danger of missing the boat to the Big Dance this March no thanks to them having lost five of their last seven games. The Bruins, who lost 79-70 to Stanford on Saturday, have two games left to turn the heads of the selection committee. That’s a date with No. 13 Oregon later tonight and a matchup with RPI top 30 Oregon State next Saturday.
Fortunately for UCLA, both of those games are at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins are 7-3 SU in their last 10 at home.
The Bruins’ defense was simply disappointing against Stanford, as they allowed the Cardinal to shoot a high 61.2 percent clip from the field. Oregon’s scorers are catching fire lately and the Bruins can’t afford to look like sacrificial lambs on defense again.
Ideally, UCLA will use its edge in rebounding to get control of the game’s pace. While the Bruins were outrebounded by Oregon in the first meeting (42-32), they are the better rebounding team on paper with an average of 40.1 boards per game, 29th in the nation. The Ducks, on the other hand, are pulling down just 35.4 each outing.
The backcourt tandem of Isaac Hamilton and Bryce Alford provides most of UCLA’s offense. Hamilton tops the team with 16.9 points per game, while Alford is not far behind with 16.2. Hamilton scored 19 points against to become as the only Pac-12 thus far this season to score in double figures in all 16 conference games. Alford and Hamilton each had 10 points in the previous matchup with Oregon.
