Dillon Brooks Leads Oregon Ducks Past UCLA Bruins
It was a close to sellout crowd at Matthew Knight Arena to watch the Oregon Ducks beat the UCLA Bruins 86-72 to keep a perfect home record in tact this season.
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The Oregon Ducks celebrated the past and looked toward the future before the game against UCLA unveiling a new 8 foot tall bronze statue of the Oregon Duck throwing the ‘O’ in front of Matthew Knight Arena and by showing the newly refurbished 1939 NCAA Championship Trophy that brought a near full house to cheer. It was a big day for Oregon Basketball with CBS in the house for a National television broadcast.
The UCLA Bruins would put the first points on the board, but Oregon would fight back to take the lead 12-9 heading into the first timeout. Elgin Cook hit a slam dunk as the Ducks were on a 7-0 run over the Bruins. It was not a good start for Bryce Alford who was 0-4 with just under 12 minutes left in the first half. For the Ducks Dillon Brooks hit 3 for 4 from the floor with a free throw for 7 points.
The Oregon Ducks would go on another 8-0 run capped off by three point shots from Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey to push their lead to 24-16. Bryce Alford made a shot with four minutes left in the first half pulling UCLA within 6 points of Oregon. The Ducks were out hustling and outrebounding UCLA. Elgin Cook who has come on strong the last few weeks for Oregon added two free throws to extend the lead to 31-23.
For the first half the Oregon Ducks shot 42 percent to the floor while UCLA was held to 31 percent and hit 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, Oregon was 5 for 14. Dillon Brooks would lead all scorers at halftime with 14. It was 41-31 Oregon over UCLA.
The Bruins would allow Oregon to go on an 8-2 run to start the second half, but a few foul calls on their end of the floor and the 4th foul on Dwayne Benjamin saw the Oregon lead slip to 5.
Oregon would find foul trouble with a 10 point lead as Tyler Dorsey would pick up his 4th foul and join Benjamin on the bench with just over nine minutes left in the game. UCLA would not go away as Isaac Hamilton hit a three point shot.
After a timeout, Oregon would pick up some momentum off a slam from Elgin Cook to push the Ducks lead to 67-58. The Ducks would respond to every run from UCLA with points and never allowed the Bruins within 4 points of the lead. Dillon Brooks would put Oregon back up by double digits with just over 5 minutes remaining.
"Our 17 assists, 7 turnovers, really good. Elgin(Cook) with 6 assists, one turnover..he made good plays. I thought that was a big factor.Oregon Ducks Head Coach Dana Altman on the Win Over UCLA"
Oregon out rebounded and had less turnovers than UCLA. The Ducks stepped it up in the second half to hit near 50 percent from the floor. For the game they had 12 points off UCLA turnovers to the Bruins 3. It was a big win in front of over 10,000 fans at Matthew Knight Arena, by far the best attended game so far this season.
Dillon Brooks led all scorers with 25. Chris Boucher had 18 and Elgin Cook added 15 for Oregon. All five starters for UCLA finished the game in double figures. After an 0-4 start Bryce Alford ended with 10 points.
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Dana Altman now takes his team on the road to the Arizona schools next week. Oregon faces Arizona on Thursday at 6pm Thursday on ESPN2.