Yesterday, your 6-7 UCLA Bruins barely lost a chippy road matchup against the 10-3 Oregon Ducks, 64-59.
But, to hear Oregon head coach Dana Altman tell it at least, the game really was decided much sooner than its 40th and final minute, writes Erik Skopil of Duck Territory (via 247Sports).
"The turning point in the game was as the 15-minute mark [i.e. when there were 15 minutes left in the contest]," Altman said." We were down five, and then at the 11-minute mark we were up five. We had a 12-2 run there. Our defense picked up and Jackson [Shelstad] hit a couple of shots there and the game just flipped. I thought that four or five minute stretch was probably the difference in the game after we had really played poorly again in the first five minutes of the second half."
Shelstad, Oregon's six-foot, four-star freshman point guard out of nearby West Linn High School, chipped in 16 of his 20 points in the game's second half overall.
That massive swing proved fairly decisive in wrapping up the Ducks' victory, as it created the exact margin by which the Bruins would go on to lose.
UCLA will have a golden opportunity to return to the winners' circle on Thursday, January 3rd, when the program will square off against the 3-9 Stanford Cardinal, back at home in the friendly confines of Pauley Pavilion.
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