UCLA Moves Closer to Goal

The UCLA Bruins are grown-ups now.

If their star senior, Dijon Thompson, struggles with his shooting and makes only three of 10 from the field, it doesn’t matter.

If their freshman phenom point guard, Jordan Farmar, who kept the game in the palm of his hand Thursday night, is disjointed and foul prone two days later, it’s all right.

If they make 14 three-pointers one day and make three of 14 attempts less than a week later, no big deal.

The Bruins won their fourth game in a row and fifth of their last six Saturday in front of a Senior Day crowd of 11,789 at Pauley Pavilion by beating Oregon, 73-61, in their final Pacific 10 Conference regular-season men’s basketball game.

By winning, UCLA (18-9, 11-7) earned a third-place tie in the conference with Stanford and eliminated the Ducks from the Pac-10 tournament, which begins Thursday at Staples Center. For purposes of tournament seeding, the Cardinal, which upset 10th-ranked Washington on Saturday, will be third as a result of sweeping UCLA in the regular season.

UCLA, seeded fourth, will play fifth-place Oregon State on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The Bruins have split with the Beavers this season, their win coming Thursday, 69-61, when the Bruins didn’t take the lead for good until the final two minutes.

Oregon’s loss, combined with California’s overtime win over Washington State, left the Ducks tied with the Bears for eighth place. But because Cal split its UCLA games and Oregon lost both, Cal will play conference champion Arizona in the first round while the Ducks (14-13, 6-12) will hope for an NIT bid.

The most repeated question to UCLA coaches and players Saturday was whether the Bruins have earned their first NCAA tournament invitation since 2002.

“I feel good,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said, “but I’m not taking anything for granted.”

Freshman Arron Afflalo and Thompson, who had been predicting 18 wins would be enough, have changed their public pronouncements.

“Win one more,” Afflalo said. “My new number is 19.”

“I hope we’re in,” Thompson said, “but I don’t know. You can’t ever trust the committee. Let’s just keep winning.”

Thompson, who leads the Bruins in scoring and rebounding, had his eighth double-double of the season with his 10 points and 12 rebounds. But Thompson also missed several open jump shots and said he never felt comfortable with his shooting rhythm. And Farmar, who had put up a line of 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists against Oregon State, had 10 points, five assists, four turnovers and four fouls against Oregon.

“It was a team effort again,” Farmar said. “I didn’t have my best game for sure, but other guys picked up the slack.”

Two of the other guys were center Michael Fey and swingman Josh Shipp. Fey -- who had spent most of the second half Thursday on the bench because he was “a step or two slow,” according to Howland -- had 15 points, 13 coming in the first half, and 11 rebounds.

When UCLA began stretching its first-half lead to 10 points, Fey was the reason. He overpowered Duck center Ray Schafer by making sure-handed catches in the lane and shooting his little hook shot with confidence. “Fey really showed up for us,” Howland said. “I think he felt bad about his performance on Thursday.”

Shipp showed up the whole game. Despite missing most of the week of practice because of the right ankle sprain he suffered against USC 10 days ago, Shipp had a game-high 20 points plus six rebounds. It was Shipp who immediately recognized when Oregon switched to a zone defense and Shipp who found the seam in that zone for jumpers in the lane.

And it was Shipp who freed himself twice to score baskets from offensive rebounds. “Like I’ve been saying,” Thompson said, “Josh is a warrior. We need Josh.”

The Bruins built their lead to as much as 15 points in the second half and never let the Ducks get closer than eight. Oregon freshman Malik Hairston, who had been recruited hard by UCLA and who was booed every time he touched the ball, said the crowd didn’t affect him. “But it’s not a good feeling not making the Pac-8,” he said.

Good feelings were left to the Bruins, but not too good. “It feels great to be a sophomore now,” Shipp said, “but we can’t celebrate anything else.” That’s the party line.

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UP NEXT FOR UCLA

Thursday vs. Oregon State, 2:30 p.m., FSNW, 570, Staples Center -- In this Pacific 10 Conference quarterfinal game, the Bruins will be trying to beat the Beavers for the second time in a week, after a 69-61 victory Thursday. In that game, as well as a loss in Corvallis, 85-80, on New Year’s Eve, the Bruins struggled with Oregon State forward David Lucas. Lucas scored 45 points in those two games.