In its first visit to Pauley Pavilion in nearly three years, Oregon upset the No. 3 UCLA to earn Dana Altman his 700th career win as a head coach.
Jacob Young scored 19 of his season-high 23 points in the second half and overtime to lead the Ducks to an 84-81 win over the host Bruins on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
“When he gets it rolling, he gets downhill and he’s shifty,” Altman said. “Then he pulled up and hit a couple, which really puts a lot of pressure on. He got to the basket, then he tried to take it to the basket and hit a couple of pull-ups, that really puts the pressure on.”
It’s by far the best win of the season for Oregon (10-6, 3-2 Pac-12), which entered 0-4 in Quadrant 1 games and 0-1 in Quadrant 2 games, and will provide a much-needed jolt to its resume.
Will Richardson scored 16 points, N’Faly Dante had 12 points and seven rebounds, Quincy Guerrier added 11 points and De’Vion Harmon and Eric Williams Jr. each had 10 for the Ducks, who have gone from a 5-5 start to four straight wins, three in conference play.
“As a team we’re coming together,” said Richardson, a fourth-year junior who has spent his whole career at UO. “This is feeling like one of the teams I’ve been on before where everybody really likes each other and everybody’s cheering for each other; nobody’s worried about playing time. We’re starting to realize that and we’re starting to buy into the team effort. Any day anybody could have a big day and today was Jacob’s day and he stepped up to it.”
Young was 11 of 18 from the field, including 1 of 2 from behind the arc, and made UO’s final three baskets from the field. Through the first 11 games, the Rutgers transfer shot 38.7% from the field and 20.7% from three while averaging 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists. In the last five games, Young has shot 55.4% from the field and 46.7% from three and is averaging 16.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
“Everybody’s starting to learn the system and once you learn the system, you learn the spots you’re going to pick and (Young) is starting to learn the spots he’s going to pick,” Richardson said. “We’re starting to buy in and starting the game off feeding N’Faly, getting him going. He’s a big piece and everybody is stepping up playing their role.”
Dante had nine of his 12 points in the first half and had seven rebounds for the Ducks, who trailed 35-30 at the break. Oregon opened the second half on a 16-2 run to take a 46-37 lead with 16:07 to go.
Johnny Juzang had 23 points and nine rebounds and Jules Bernard had 13 points and seven rebounds for UCLA (10-2, 2-1 Pac-12), which tied it at 57-57 with 9:16 to go in regulation.
The Ducks maintained a two-score lead for most of the next eight-plus minutes, but the Bruins scored the final six points of regulation, capitalizing on a pair of Oregon turnovers in the final 35 seconds by Guerrier and Young to send the game to overtime.
Oregon never trailed in overtime, when it got six points from Young and five from Richardson, and held on for the win while holding UCLA, a top 20 team in offensive efficiency, to 39.7% shooting from the field.
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