Only one loss, but it’s in conference
UCLA Coach Ben Howland had spoken Friday about how it is impossible these days, when teams play 30 or more regular-season games, to go undefeated, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when the 14-0 Bruins became 14-1 after a 68-66 loss Saturday to Oregon at McArthur Court.
That didn’t mean he was happy to get a loss.
“I don’t care about the records or the No. 1 ranking,” Howland said, “but I am disappointed we lost a conference game. Now I have to go about thinking, ‘How is this team going to learn from this?’ ”
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When the Bruins watch film of this first loss, they will probably notice several missed layups and bad shot choices, especially in their late run to tie the score, 66-66. Alfred Aboya missed a wide-open layup and Lorenzo Mata had a perfect pass stripped from his hands that would have given him an easy dunk.
And Josh Shipp tried an alley-oop pass to Mata that was too high, resulting in a turnover.
“That was messed up,” Mata said. “Josh and I made eye contact, but that’s a play we have to learn from because it didn’t work.”
Mata, who had been averaging a team-high 7.6 rebounds, had only two Saturday.
“We need more rebounding out of him,” Howland said.
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The last time UCLA came to Eugene ranked No. 1 was Feb. 16, 1974, and the Ducks won, 56-51. It put those Ducks on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Coincidentally, that Oregon team was also coming off a loss to USC. This loss also ended a four-game UCLA winning streak over Oregon.
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While the Bruins seemed over their early-season shooting slump from the free-throw line when they were, at one point, last in the Pacific 10 Conference, they missed six of their 18 attempts while Oregon made 19 of its 21. Howland said earlier this season that missed foul shots would cost UCLA a game.
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Freshman point guard Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison’s backup, played 13 minutes, scored 10 points and didn’t have a turnover. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Russell played real good minutes for us,” Howland said.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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