Oregon drops third-straight in 90-83 loss to UCLA. Bruin’s Jaylen Hands scores all 27 points in second half against Ducks.

Oregon (15-12) fell into the cliched “tale of two halves” Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Ducks were challenged by head coach Dana Altman prior to Saturday’s game after their disappointing loss to USC. Telling the team he didn’t know who he was going to have start the game, lighting a much needed fire under the Ducks in the first half.

Like very few games before, the Ducks came out with a furious intensity, clicking on all cylinders. Oregon pushed the tempo against a Bruins squad who looked unprepared to play, the way the Ducks usually open a half. Forward Paul White was phenomenal in the first half scoring 14 of his 18 points in the first half on 5-7 FG shooting and 4-6 3PT.

White with the help of the hot-handed Victor Bailey Jr. escorted Oregon to a 16-5 run on a pair of triples giving them a 33-22 lead. Bailey Jr. was on fire from deep in the first half hitting 3-4 from beyond the arch. Oregon then proceeded to expand their lead to close out the half with an 11-6 run. Capped off with a emphatic dunk by Kenny Wooten Jr. to push the margin at half to 44-28 heading into the break.

At the half Oregon had 14 assists as a team shot 17-27 (63%) from the field and 8-13 (61.5%) from three.

And just as their season has gone all year, The Ducks went from hot to ice cold just like that.

After a Payton Pritchard made three the Bruins answered back with an 8-0 run to start the second half with a mirage of three’s led by UCLA guard Jaylen Hands. Whatever mysterious “Space Jam” like magic Oregon had tapped into in the first half, it was obviously stolen by Hands and the rest of the Bruins who dominated the second half.

UCLA continued to attack the shell-shocked Ducks going on a 27-6 run, tying the game at 53-53 on three consecutive made three’s by, you guessed it, Hands. Hands, who made seven three-pointers in the second half alone also gave the Bruins the lead with an easy layup, giving him 11 unanswered points.

Oregon managed to tie the game at 63-63 with a couple Wooten Jr. free throws with 7:45 remaining, but shortly after guard Kris Wilkes extended UCLA’s lead to six points after an and-one three-pointer. Resulting in a four-point play for the Bruin with just 5:51 remaining.

With the wind completely gone from Oregon’s sails, UCLA coasted to the 90-83 victory stealing away what looked to be an Oregon Ducks road win.

Oregon

*Payton Pritchard: (38 MIN) 18 PTS / 4 REB / 8 AST 6-13 FG / 2-7 3PT

*Kenny Wooten Jr.: (33 MIN) 16 PTS / 9 REB / 2 AST / 7 BLK 6-11 FG

*Louis King: (31 MIN) 10 PTS / 7 REB / 0 AST 4-8 FG / 1-4 3PT

*Paul White: (36 MIN) 18 PTS / 2 REB / 4 AST 7-14 FG / 4-10 3PT

*Francis Okoro: (12 MIN) 4 PTS / 2 REB / 0 AST 1-1 FG

Will Richardson: (24 MIN) 4 PTS / 3 REB / 5 AST 1-3 FG / 0-1 3PT

Victor Bailey Jr.: (23 MIN) 13 PTS / 2 REB / 2 AST 4-11 FG / 3-7 3PT

Miles Norris: (3 MIN) 0 PTS / 0 REB / 1 AST 0-0 FG

Ehab Amin: DNP

UCLA

*Moses Brown (21 MIN) 6 PTS / 7 REB / 1 AST 3-7 FG

*David Singleton (18 MIN) 6 PTS / 0 REB / 3 AST 2-4 FG / 2-3 3PT

*Jaylen Hands (32 MIN) 27 PTS / 4 REB / 9 AST 8-15 FG / 7-10

*Chris Smith (19 MIN) 1 PTS / 5 REB / 1 AST 0-4 FG

*Kris Wilkes (37 MIN) 20 PTS / 3 REB / 2 AST 7-14 FG / 4-7 3PT

Jalen Hill (16 MIN) 8 PTS / 8 REB / 0 AST 3-3 FG

Jules Bernard (28 MIN) 20 PTS / 2 REB / 1 AST 5-8 FG / 1-2 3PT

Cody Riley (10 MIN) 0 PTS / 2 REB / 1 AST 0-1 FG

Alex Olesinski (19 MIN) 2 PTS / 1 REB / 0 AST 1-1 FG

The Ducks leave Southern California 0-2 after falling to both USC and UCLA on the road. While having dropped their last three consecutive games on the road including the Civil War game against Oregon State. Oregon has struggled mightily all season away from Matthew Knight Arena dropping now to 3-7, according to ESPN.com after their latest debauchery. They’ll be heading back to Eugene to face ASU (18-8) on Thursday. The Ducks are 2-4 in the month of February.

Follow Colt Johnson on Twitter @Barefoot_Sensei