Oregon suffers disasterous loss to UCLA in Pac-12 tournament semifinals

Oregon had an opportunity to alter the course of its season on Friday and prove once and for all that it belongs in the NCAA Tournament field.

Instead, the Ducks suffered a season-defining loss that followed a familiar script.

After an encouraging first-half showing, the Ducks wilted down the stretch en route to a 75-56 loss to the UCLA Bruins in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

For an Oregon program that entered the evening on the NCAA tournament bubble, Friday’s showdown with the Bruins served as a monumental opportunity to notch a resume-boosting win.

But Oregon had no answer for UCLA senior point guard Tyger Campbell down the stretch. Campbell finished with a career-high 28 points, including 20 in the second half. Jaime Jaquez added 18 points and 10 rebounds for UCLA.

Will Richardson and Quincy Guerrier led the Ducks with 10 points apiece, and N’Faly Dante finished with eight points and 10 boards.

Oregon out-rebounded UCLA 40-30 on the night but shot just 3-for-19 (16%) from three-point range.

With the loss, the Ducks are now 19-14 on the year and will have to wait until Sunday to find out their postseason destination.

How it happened

The Ducks and Bruins traded jabs over the opening 10 minutes, but neither team created much separation.

Midway through the half, UCLA freshman point guard Dylan Andrews entered the game to spell star senior Tyger Campbell and provided a big spark for the Bruins. Andrew drained a pull-up jumper on his first shot of the night, and then lobbed an alley-oop to Adem Bona to give UCLA an 18-16 lead.

That UCLA surge coincided with a four-minute scoring drought from the Ducks that could have proved disastrous.

But Oregon negated the impact by playing solid defense and frequently forcing the Bruins to settle for tough looks. During the aforementioned scoring drought, UCLA was limited to a 7-0 run. With 6:42 left in the half, Keeshawn Barthelemy drained a step-back jumper to cut the Bruins’ lead to 21-18.

From there, neither team was able to create much separation.

Dante picked up his second foul with 5:18 left in the half and Dana Altman opted to sit him down for the remainder of the half to avoid him potentially picking up a third.

With Dante off the floor, UCLA had a prime opportunity to take control of the game.

But the Ducks did a nice job of coping without Dante — thanks in part to the contributions of freshman center Kel’el Ware, who scored on back-to-back possessions late in the half.

At halftime, the Bruins held a 32-30 advantage.

As soon as the second half tipped off, the Bruins immediately took hold of the game and threatened to pull away for good. They took a 44-36 lead with 16:35 to go after a Jaquez three.

But the Ducks did what they could not when the two teams last met in February and shook off UCLA’s knockout punch early in the second half. Oregon answered back with five straight points to cut the Bruins’ advantage to 44-41.

But from there, it appeared that the Ducks ran out of gas.

UCLA ran Oregon off the floor over the final 15 minutes of the night. The Bruins closed out the night on a 29-15 run that was sparked by a career night from Campbell.

At one point, Campbell singlehandedly went on a 9-2 scoring run that left Oregon trailing 57-46 with 8:05 to go.

The Ducks managed to quickly trim the lead back to single digits after a hook shot from Dante. But the Bruins responded with another scoring surge and put the game away for good when David Singleton buried a three in transition to make it 64-51 with 4:36 to go.

What’s next

The Ducks will find out where their postseason journey begins when the NCAA Tournament selection show airs at 3 p.m. PT Sunday on CBS. The NIT selection show will air at 6 p.m. PT on ESPNU.