UCLA Men’s Basketball Cruises Past Oregon Into Pac-12 Finals

Down another one of their best defenders, the Bruins survived to fight another day.

No. 1 seed UCLA men’s basketball (29-4, 18-12 Pac-12) once again came alive late in the second half, emerging with a 75-56 win over No. 4 seed Oregon (19-14, 12-8) in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals on Friday night. The decisive fourth quarter run – which began with just under 10 minutes left when the Bruins led by four – was largely spearheaded by point guard Tyger Campbell.

The fifth-year senior led all players with 28 points and six assists, and his streak of pull-up jumpers and 3-pointers resulted in nine straight for a UCLA team struggling to pull away.

Freshman big man Adem Bona had just gone down with a shoulder injury, writhing on the floor in pain before getting helped off the court. Bona’s absence further shortened coach Mick Cronin’s lineup, which had already lost guard Jaylen Clark to a lower leg injury last Saturday against Arizona.

The bench didn’t add much on the box score, only scoring four points, but they were out there for Campbell’s explosion on the offensive end. On defense, big men Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne helped limit the 7-footer trio of N’Faly Dante, Kel’el Ware and Nate Bittle to eight, eight and seven points, respectively.

Out on the perimeter, Dylan Andrews, Abramo Canka and Will McClendon chipped in to hold Will Richardson to 10 points and Jermaine Cuisnard to five on 2-for-10 shooting without a 3-pointer.

The Bruins got plenty of triples from their senior trio of Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and David Singleton, as Campbell went 4-for-8 and Singleton went 3-for-3. Both veterans were getting those shots to fall early on, but the Ducks kept things close well past halftime.

Neither team led by more than four for the entire first half, despite a late push made by Bona and guard Amari Bailey. Oregon actually took the lead in the opening minute of the second, and their 3-pointers from Bittle and Quincy Querrier prevented UCLA from running away with it.

Things didn’t seem to be getting any better for the Bruins, who had lost Bona to a left shoulder injury. Cronin didn’t give a timetable for his return after the game, but UCLA only had a game to play on Saturday because of the players who stepped up in Bona’s absence.

Just like they did when they came back from down one with five minutes to go Thursday against Colorado, the Bruins flexed their depth and veteran leadership down the stretch Friday night.

Campbell, Jaquez and Singleton outscored the Ducks all on their own, and they got 40 of their 58 points in the second half. The only points that came from a player outside of that trio was Bailey’s single field goal and free throw.

Oregon, which was only shooting 40.0% at the time, was held to 3-for-18 from the field in the final 10 minutes. The Ducks ended the night shooting 33.3% from the field, 15.8% from deep and 68.8% from the line.

Thanks to their clutch efforts on both ends of the floor in the face of adversity, UCLA is back in the Pac-12 tournament championship game Saturday. Arizona made it as well, setting up a rematch of last year’s contest, which the Wildcats won.

Tip-off for the final is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. back at T-Mobile Arena.