Beat Up UCLA Men's Basketball Handles Oregon State, Surges Ahead For Bounce-Back Win
Not long before Saturday's game tipped off, Jaime Jaquez Jr. was ruled out for the contest.
The guard/forward had been the Bruins' spark on both ends of the floor for most of the season, but after a season-worst outing Thursday against Oregon, he came down with a left ankle injury.
So for the first time in 686 days, the blue and gold took the floor without Jaquez in the starting five.
Jaylen Clark drew his first career start in Jaquez's place, and he made the most of the opportunity.
No. 3 UCLA men's basketball (11-2, 3-1 Pac-12) defeated Oregon State (3-13, 1-5) by a score of 81-65 at Pauley Pavilion, recovering from the upset it suffered at the hands of the Ducks earlier in the week. A tight opening 10 minutes was highlighted by a scoring burst by Clark, and even though he was scoreless in the second half, he provided the Bruins enough juice to secure the victory.
Clark got off to quite the hot start, hitting his first five attempts from the field and setting a career high with 11 points in the first half alone. The guard entered Saturday 2-of-12 from deep on a team that led the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting, but Clark drilled the Bruins' lone triple of the first half.
Also picking up four boards and a steal, Clark led all players with a +19 plus/minus.
The career night by Clark powered one of UCLA's most efficient offensive halves of the season, as they were shooting 69.6% from the field and 90.9% from the free throw line to the tune of 43 points before the break.
The Beavers opened the night shooting 10-of-15 from the field, though, on pace to put up 80 points on the night through the first 13 minutes. Oregon State even took a lead when it turned a 3-pointer by Tre Williams in a one-point advantage.
The Bruins stepped it up on defense, though, and held them to a 1-of-8 stretch. That helped UCLA go up by as many as 10 points towards the end of the first half, even if Oregon State cut it to eight thanks to another second-chance bucket at the buzzer somewhat reminiscent of the one that drained them of their energy against Oregon on Thursday.
That wasn't the case Saturday, however.
The Beavers got a jumper from guard Jarod Lucas to go in the opening minute of the second half, but then the Bruins went on a 10-2 run to go up by 14. Even after Oregon State scored five straight, UCLA put up seven unanswered.
From that point on, the Beavers didn't score back-to-back buckets for the rest of the night. The Bruins went over seven minutes in that same position, but they were up by enough and answered enough of Oregon State's scores to stay up by double digits for the final 13 minutes.
Clark handed off the lead scoring duties to guards Johnny Juzang and Jules Bernard in the second half, as they ended up scoring 24 and 16 points, respectively. Guard Tyger Campbell broke double digits as well, tallying 13 points alongside his three assists and four steals.
The fact that UCLA only shot 2-of-12 from 3-point range didn't mean much considering they were 27-of-35 from inside the arc and 21-of-26 from the charity stripe. The Bruins' 40 points in the paint nearly doubled the Beavers', and their 10 fast break points far outdid their opponent's one.
UCLA only managed to muster up eight bench points, with Jaquez missing the contest altogether and guard David Singleton and forward/center Kenny Nwuba leaving early with injuries.
The battered and bruised Bruins escaped with a comfortable victory, though, and they are set to return to the court Thursday at 8 p.m. against Utah in Salt Lake City.
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