UCLA delivered an emphatic 75-56 defeat to Oregon and secured their spot in the final round of the Pac-12 Tournament Saturday night. The No. 4 seed Ducks and the No. 1 seed Bruins battled on the court Friday evening at T-Mobile arena chasing that elusive semi-final victory. An explosive offensive performance by senior guard Tyger Campbell propelled UCLA to the tournament championship for a second consecutive year.
“It’s not how big you are, it’s how tough you are. It’s not how tall you are, it’s how big you play,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin. “We worry about defense, we worry about playing smart. The ball is eventually going to go in.”
The first half opened with an Oregon basket from sophomore center Nate Bittle. Although the Ducks were first on the board, fifth-year guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. followed closely with a shot of his own to tie the game. Jaquez Jr. averages 18.5 points when playing against Oregon and contributed 18 points and 10 rebounds on the night.
A relentless first half fight came from both teams as they matched each other shot for shot and steal for steal. The largest lead of the half came from a three-pointer by Campbell, which extended the Bruin lead to 21-16.
“I was just more worried about winning,” Campbell said.”I was really just trying to make anything happen. I believe in myself as a player, any shot I take I think it’s going to go in.”
A race to the rim by freshman guard Amari Bailey with 35 seconds left in the half was answered by senior guard Will Richardson to close out the half 32-30 in favor of UCLA.
The Bruins began pulling ahead four minutes into the second half thanks to a set of 3-pointers from senior guard David Singleton and Jaquez Jr. The Bruins lead reached 44-36 when freshman forward Adem Bona injured his left shoulder diving for a ball. He left the game with 16 minutes left in the second half after contributing four points, four rebounds and two blocks.
Oregon battled back to close the gap to 44-41, but with five minutes remaining in the half, UCLA ran away with the lead. Campbell, who averaged 18 points with two rebounds and three steals in the regular season earned the roar of the crowd after scoring a career high 28 points and adding six assists.
“We made some mistakes in the first half but we were able to cover them up a little bit better. Second half we just didn’t cover up any mistakes. We lost our energy when we missed some shots,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We had a little spurt and we finally hit some shots and that was when our energy was the best but we didn’t respond very well when we missed shots. Our energy level just wasn’t good enough.”
The Bruins, who have gone 29-4 overall with an 18-2 conference record, are familiar with the feeling of a Pac-12 semifinal win after beating USC 69-59 last season. Today’s game extended UCLA’s winning streak to 12 games. Their last loss was to the Trojans Jan. 26 at Galen Center.
By making it to the semifinals, the Ducks on the other hand have already surpassed their 2022 Pac-12 tournament run. While T-Mobile arena is an iconic venue for the Pac-12 tournament, playing outside of Matthew Knight Arena usually does not work out in favor of the Ducks, as they had a 4-6 away record during the regular season.
Oregon ultimately could not regain their lead in the second half despite a final push. The win for UCLA sets the stage for the team to address their unfinished business of last year’s tournament after losing the 2022 Pac-12 tournament final to Arizona.
Now, the Bruins are making a run for the 2023 Pac-12 Championship and will play Saturday March 11 at 7:30 pm.
“It would mean that all this hard work paid off,” Jaquez Jr. said. “We worked so hard this year. Even the years in the past, we fell short last year. It would be great just to overcome that and bring home the Pac-12 Tournament Championship.”