No. 10 UCLA seeks revenge vs. No. 5 Oregon (Feb 09, 2017)
LOS ANGELES -- One statistic stuck out to Steve Alford as he looked back on Oregon's 89-87 win over UCLA in December.
"We have played 24 games and that is the only game this year where we were outscored in transition," the UCLA coach said. "Oregon did a good job of that because no other team we have played has been able to get more transition points than we have."
Oregon had 14 fast-break points while UCLA had 10 during their first meeting to open Pac-12 play. The rematch comes Thursday night when the 10th-ranked Bruins host the No. 5 Ducks (21-3, 10-1 Pac-12).
"It is tough to beat a team two times, but hopefully we can," Oregon guard Dylan Ennis said. "We know they will be great at home so we have to stick to our principles and hopefully we will be fine."
The Ducks moved up eight spots in the Associated Press poll Monday after beating then-No. 5 Arizona 85-58 on Saturday. It was Oregon's largest margin of victory ever against a Top 10 team.
The Ducks shot 65.2 percent from the field against the Wildcats, including 16 of 25 on 3-pointers, to move into a tie for first place with Arizona for first place in the conference.
"We hit shots and the crowd got into it," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "It was a perfect storm for us to have a very good game."
UCLA (21-3, 8-3) started the season with 13 wins in a row before suffering its first loss at Oregon when Dillon Brooks made a 3-pointer in the final seconds to win the game.
"They played really well at home and they made the plays they had to in the final four minutes," Alford said. "The final shot Brooks made was contested, so you have to give them credit because they made shots when they had to have them. I thought we played pretty well."
The 6-foot-7 Brooks, one of 25 players on the Wooden Award watch list, was named Pac-12 player of the week after he totaled 45 points in wins over Arizona State and Arizona. He leads the Ducks with 14.4 points per game.
Sophomore guard Tyler Dorsey is averaging 12.6 points while senior center Chris Boucher averages 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds. Ennis is scoring 11 points per game while junior forward Jordan Bell is at 10.9 with a team-leading 7.6 rebounds.
"We have five guys averaging in double figures so what makes us deadly is that when one guy is not on, we can get it to the hot hand," Ennis said. "When you have six or seven guys who can get hot at any moment, that makes you a very good team."
UCLA, tied for third in the conference, has six players scoring in double figures, led by freshman forward TJ Leaf at 17.1 points with a team-high 8.9 rebounds. Senior guard Bryce Alford is averaging 16.4 points per game.
Freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, potentially the No. 1 pick in this year's NBA Draft, averages 15.1 points, 7.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds. Guards Isaac Hamilton and Aaron Holiday are scoring 14.7 and 13.4 points per game, respectively, while center Thomas Welsh averages 10.4 points and 8.3 rebounds.
UCLA leads the nation in field goal percentage at .535 while ranking second with 92.9 points per game.
"They are a great offensive team and I think their defense is improved," Altman said. "Offensively, they are as good a team as we will face so we are going to have to play well on defense. Our communication has to be great and our transition defense is going to have to be better than it has been. We have our work cut out for us, no doubt about it."
