Message Is Early and Clear to UCLA : College basketball: After hearing that USC had been upset, inspired Bruins score an 84-65 victory over Oregon.

For Don Monson, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

A day after being told that his job was in jeopardy and only a few minutes before the start of Saturday’s game at McArthur Court, with his injury-plagued team about to tip off against third-ranked UCLA, the Oregon coach heard this announcement from public-address announcer Don Essig:

“USC 78 . . . Oregon State 92.”

The news from Corvallis meant that UCLA, with a victory, could take over the Pacific 10 Conference lead.

“Doesn’t seem like I get any breaks, does it?” Monson said later. “They’ve got to announce that before the game?”

Motivated by what they had heard--”I noticed they were high-fiving (while warming up) and seemed pretty tickled,” Monson said--the Bruins overwhelmed the Ducks, opening a 33-point lead before Coach Jim Harrick cleared his bench during an 84-65 victory.

“It just gave us a little reminder that we could get upset, too,” UCLA forward Don MacLean said of Essig’s announcement. “It certainly doesn’t hurt to hear that stuff before the game, just to make sure you’re concentrating and focused on playing and not saying to yourself, ‘Oh, this is Oregon, it’s just another game.’ ”

UCLA improved to 19-1 overall, 10-1 in the Pac-10.

Oregon, a 99-71 loser against UCLA last month at Pauley Pavilion, fell to 6-14 and 2-9 after losing for the ninth time in 10 games.

On Friday, Athletic Director Bill Byrne told a reporter that he might replace Monson at the end of the season, although Monson has two years left on his contract and his Ducks have been hard hit by injuries.

How bad has it been?

Imagine UCLA without five of its top six players.

Terrell Brandon, last season’s Pac-10 player of the year, left school early to make himself available for the NBA draft. Bob Fife, the Ducks’ No. 2 rebounder last season, is redshirting in an effort to gain weight.

And, since the start of the season, injuries have cost Oregon three of its top four scorers--forward Jordy Lyden, point guard Andre Collier and forward Clyde Jordan, all of whom are sidelined for the season. Jordan, the Ducks’ leading rebounder, suffered an injured left foot Thursday night against USC.

“They’re just kind of decimated right now,” Harrick said.

They looked it.

UCLA used a 12-0 run to open a 28-11 lead.

“Everybody was really into it today,” MacLean said. “Sometimes, some guys come out and go through the motions. But today, everybody was really up and had their legs. Everybody was really quick. I knew after about eight or 10 minutes that we were going to take care of them pretty easily.”

The crowd of 7,061 never got a chance to get involved.

“The problem was, (in) what we were trying to do early, you can’t make mistakes,” Monson said. “And when seniors press freshmen, it takes its toll eventually. We were hurt by some turnovers and (when you fall behind) Mac Court is not Mac Court.

“The home-court advantage is not there and it relaxes (the visiting team) and pretty soon their shots are going down.”

And their lead is growing.

An 18-4 run at the start of the second half, with all of the Bruins’ points being scored by MacLean, Tracy Murray and Mitchell Butler, increased UCLA’s lead to 53-28. A 17-6 run made the score 71-38.

UCLA went the last eight minutes without Murray, who made six of eight three-point shots and led the Bruins with 22 points, and MacLean, who scored 15 points and had four assists in only 23 minutes.

UCLA’s Shon Tarver finished with 14 points, Butler with 11.

Bruin Notes

Don MacLean moved past Stanford’s Todd Lichti into second place on the all-time Pacific 10 scoring list. He needs 212 points to replace Arizona’s Sean Elliott as the leader. . . . UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of Oregon: “This is kind of a Murphy’s Law team for Don (Monson) this year. People need to give Don Monson a chance to coach.” Monson, in his ninth season at Oregon, is 116-137. The Ducks were 16-13 in his best season.

Oregon Athletic Director Bill Byrne told the Associated Press: “Nine years is a long time for a coach, and I’d like to have had more success. I’ve been disappointed that we haven’t been more competitive. Ultimately, the coaches have to take responsibility for their programs.”

UCLA’s road record is 8-0. . . . Rodney Zimmerman, who scored a season-high 13 points in last month’s 99-71 victory over Oregon, has scored only 14 points in nine games since. . . . Ed O’Bannon played 19 minutes and scored eight points, both season highs, and matched a season best with six rebounds.