LOS ANGELES — UCLA escaped a potentially damaging loss by going back to basics. With the Bruins’ offense languishing, they turned it up on defense.
Russell Westbrook scored 16 points and helped rally No. 6 UCLA from an 11-point second-half deficit to a 75-65 victory over Oregon on Saturday.
UCLA was facing a defeat that could have jeopardized its hopes of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament before Westbrook helped ignite the 38-17 game-ending run.
“If they knock us off on our home floor that really propels them to an NCAA tournament bid,” Bruins coach Ben Howland said. “We understand that’s how they looked at it. They were geared up and ready to play us.”
Kevin Love, dogged by double teams, added 15 points and 11 rebounds for his 16th double-double for the Bruins, while Darren Collison had 17 points and Josh Shipp 10.
“We were pretty concerned,” Love said. “We had to have a sense of urgency and we needed to keep fighting.”
Maarty Leunen had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Oregon, which has lost eight of 11.
“We just gave one away,” Leunen said. “We had momentum pretty much the whole game until the last 10 minutes and they made their run. Like UCLA does, they just turn up their defense.”
Getting swept in Los Angeles kept the Ducks in the bottom half of the Pac-10 standings and puts them on the NCAA tourney bubble.
“We lost big opportunities this weekend,” said Leunen, whose mood was as dark as the Ducks’ new all-black uniforms in which only numbers and not names were visible.
USC 81, Oregon St. 53
LOS ANGELES — O.J. Mayo led four players in double figures with 21 points as the Trojans kept the hapless Beavers winless in the Pac-10. Mayo had four 3-pointers, giving him 66 on the season and moving him past Gabe Pruitt as the most prolific freshman long-range shooter in USC history.
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