UCLA come through in clutch to beat Oregon, 83-74

EUGENE, ORE. — This is what UCLA did not want.

The Bruins did not want to let a struggling Oregon team stay close into the final minutes.

They did not want a relatively tame McArthur Court crowd to find its lungs, filling the old arena with a constant roar as the clock ticked down.

This is what UCLA needed.

The 12th-ranked Bruins needed clutch performances down the stretch, especially from two players who had been struggling this season, to secure an 83-74 victory in a Pacific 10 Conference game Sunday afternoon.

"This place is so hard to play," Coach Ben Howland said. "The building was alive. I wish for once we could show up here and not have the building so ready for us."

Senior guard Darren Collison proved to be a calming influence amid less-than-optimal conditions, making a string of free throws at the end to finish with a team-high 22 points.

But it was the unexpected shooting of Josh Shipp and Nikola Dragovic that provided a big lift for the Bruins.

Shipp, who came into the game shooting 21% on three-pointers, made three from long range in the last 10 minutes. Dragovic, at 20%, made a critical three-pointer after the Ducks drew close.

"If you're a good player, you love those situations," Shipp said. "When it's the loudest and you have the most adversity, you see what type of player you are."

Those crucial baskets ruined an otherwise gallant effort by the Ducks, whose record slipped to 6-8, 0-2.

"A few times we were right there," Oregon Coach Ernie Kent said. "But they didn't let us close the gap."

Oregon forged its comeback by switching to a 2-3 matchup zone, Collison said.

The change disrupted UCLA's attack, forcing the Bruins to adjust.

At the other end of the court, the Ducks started to score more from the paint and caused UCLA center Alfred Aboya to foul out with 2:44 remaining.

Aboya had been playing almost foul-free so far this season.

"They were setting their screens high so that when we hedged, we were a little bit late to recover," Aboya said.

For much of the afternoon, it seemed as if the Bruins might escape both drama and the usual clatter associated with this rickety old gym on the Eugene campus.

Last season, UCLA showed up with freshman Kevin Love, an Oregon native who had chosen to play out of state. Fans responded with a degree of rancor startling even for a student section known as the "Pit Crew."