For the second time this season, the Ducks lost to the UCLA Bruins as Oregon continued to struggle to find its footing in Big Ten play. Despite Oregon's dominant start to the season, the Ducks have been on a downhill slide as they fight their way through their conference schedule.
Oregon had been flawless on the road until the Ducks lost to the Minnesota Golden Gophers last week and flailed against the Bruins on Thursday.
UCLA outscored Oregon in both halves to demolish the Ducks in a stunning 78-52 victory for the Bruins. With the loss, Oregon dropped to 5-5 in Big Ten play and a (quickly worsening) 16-5 overall record.
Final in LA. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/DVjEB3GEL4
— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) January 31, 2025
At halftime, the Ducks were already down by an abysmal 14 points as they struggled to find their shooting former and failed to slow down the UCLA offense. By the end of the game, Oregon had shot just 41.2 percent from the field with an atrocious 17.4 percent performance from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad, who had just found his footing for the season, failed to find the basket throughout the entirety of the game and finished with 0 points on the stat sheet. Senior center Nate Bittle put up 13 points for the Ducks while senior guard Keeshawn Barthelemy came off the bench to contribute 12 points of his own.
The Ducks failed to slow down the offensive attack of Eric Dailey Jr., Tyler Bilodeau, and Dylan Andrews who combined for 51 points. The Bruins out-rebounded Oregon, had more blocks, had fewer turnovers, and had fewer fouls.
To put it simply, Oregon was outplayed. With the win, UCLA improved to 16-6 overall but the Bruins have done impressively well in conference play, currently sitting at fourth in the Big Ten standings with a 7-4 conference record.
With the loss, the Ducks dropped to eighth place in the Big Ten. Oregon will return home to host the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Feb. 2 in their next conference matchup.