Postgame Talk: UCLA Continues Defensive Improvement in 74-63 Victory Over Oregon
In the process, the Bruins extended their home streak over the Ducks to four.
I don’t have a clear throughline for this game like I do with so many others, so I’m going to go with a Quick Thoughts-style recap for UCLA’s 74-63 victory over Oregon.
The main takeaway from this game has to be the defense of the Bruins. UCLA held Oregon to 33.9% shooting (19-56) from the field, including 29.6% (8-27) from deep. That’s going to win you a lot of ballgames, even when your offense goes cold in the second half (more on that in a minute). UCLA continued playing that high-pressing zone for spurts in this game, which seemed to fluster the Ducks throughout and forced them into throwing up some absolute prayers that somehow went in anyway.
The biggest defensive factor was the half-press UCLA used throughout the game. I remembered the Bruins doing this last year to the Ducks, and since that time, Oregon has not gotten better at breaking it. In particular, it slowed Jackson Shelstad down considerably and helped to keep him under control for large portions of the game. UCLA also changed up their zone coverages with Shelstad out there, aggressively switching everything to make sure a defender was always in front of him, preventing cuts to the basket. Shelstad still had a major impact (20 points on 7-12 shooting, including four three-pointers), but his damage was limited to a few short bursts; otherwise, UCLA did a great job getting the ball out of his hands and into the hands of the other Oregon players, who could not meet the moment in the same way.
In particular, Nate Bittle had a terrible game, which we all should have seen coming. Bittle was playing his first game in over a week since getting injured against San Diego State, and he looked the part of a player who rushed back way too quickly. Bittle finished with three points in total off a woeful 0-10 from the field, and only grabbed four rebounds. Most distressingly, Bittle’s shot from distance was well off, as he went 0-4 and had the Bruins sagging off him late in the game. I imagine Bittle will be closer to healthier for the next matchup, but given his injury history, that isn’t something you can count on.
The big negative was rebounding. UCLA was not very good when it came to cleaning up the defensive glass, letting Oregon grab 43% of their missed shots and scoring 20 second-chance points, which allowed them to hang around in the game. Interestingly enough, Oregon was equally bad at securing rebounds on their side as well; the Bruins grabbed 47% of available rebounds on their offensive end, but only scored 13 points off of those rebounds. The zone, while doing a lot to fix many of the defensive shortcomings of this group, isn’t helping them when it comes to rebounds, and my guess is this will continue for the rest of the season.
On offense, I was pleasantly surprised that UCLA did not try to take the air out of the ball when they pushed the lead to 11 with 2:49 to go. Outside of one drawn-out possession where the Bruins got three offensive rebounds and no points to show for it, UCLA continued running their offense at a normal pace, and while the shots didn’t go in, the process was sound enough that I want to be positive here, if only to encourage Mick Cronin to continue in this regard.
There’s going to be increased conversation about the post position this week, as for the second (third?) game in a row, Stephen Jamerson looked like the better option compared to Xavier Booker. This is not to say Booker played badly, and his 12 points and five rebounds were a major part of this win. But for everything Booker brings on the offensive end, Jamerson is bringing on the defensive end, and UCLA’s defense tends to play much better when he is on the court. Jamerson was probably in line for major minutes in the second half before foul trouble limited him, but I would like to see Cronin tinker with the rotation some more and consider having both Jamerson and Booker on the court at the same time, pushing Booker to the four, where he can play on the outside to his heart’s content (fun fact: Booker is now shooting over 50% from three this season).
For the rest of the offense, Donovan Dent seemed to take a step back, looking more tentative and passive than he did against Washington, and I’m guessing he’s going to enjoy the week break to continue to heal up from his leg injury. He was still productive in spurts, especially in the second half when the Bruin offense needed a shot in the arm after a sluggish start. Skyy Clark also took an understandable step back from Wednesday but was still productive, scoring 13 points. Tyler Bilodeau had perhaps his best overall game against the Ducks in a UCLA uniform, scoring 14 points on an efficient 4-7 shooting night and, more importantly, grabbing eight rebounds, all of which were on the defensive end.
The big star offensively was Eric Dailey, who just continues to kill the Ducks at Pauley. Last year, Dailey scored 21 points on a ridiculous 8-9 shooting night, and while he wasn’t that good this time around, he still was a nightmare for the Ducks, with a team-leading 18 points on 6-9 shooting, hitting all four of his free-throw attempts. It was a nice bounce-back game from the junior, which hopefully becomes less of a necessity as the season progresses and he gets more consistent.
One last thought before I hit the road. The officiating in this game went from competent in the first half to mind-numbingly awful in the second. You could make a very good case that the officials changed the complexion of the game to start the second, hitting UCLA with a series of foul calls that took Skyy Clark out for a clearly not 100% Trent Perry and forced Jamerson out of the game early. There was also a shoving match instigated by an Oregon player that somehow resulted in no further action, and two late reviews to overturn calls on the court that the referees clearly botched. The Bruins ultimately still won, but it was still something that should be pointed out.
Go Bruins!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
A lot of consternation about ucla allowing teams to get back in the game the last two matchups but I think these wins show and build character. UW is a team that has two nba-bound players and an NIL war chest that’s more than UCLA, so it’s not surprising they made a second half run. Of course it was aided by some poor offensive management by the Bruins but they held on. Contrast that to SC, which blew an 18 point halftime lead to UW, and then wilted all the way and lost by 8. Makes our win against UW look even better.
Against Oregon, UCLA withstood their run much better and was able to pull away. Oregon was not at full strength but it didn’t feel like UCLA was either, with Dent and Bilodeau dealing with lingering issues and Perry’s first game back.
Both teams weren’t good at D rebounding, but ucla actually won the rebounding battle which is a bit hilarious thinking about it.
It’s crazy how spot on oddsmakers were the last two games. UCLA was 1.5 point favorites against UW and won by 2. And UCLA was 10.5 point favorites against Oregon and won by 11.
In the same vein, more Quick Thoughts:
Xavier's problem is that he's a 4 playing out of position because of Crnin's roster construction (see Bilo last year).
Dent is on a Dylan Andrews trajectory under Crnin, unless it's the injury.
Crnin is not an adherent of Alfie's 2 bigs for this squad.
Always good to win against Dana and to protect home court.