No. 21 Oregon Stuns No. 2 UCLA on Dillon Brooks’ Late 3-Pointer
It’s been almost a decade since Aaron Brooks hit a jumper from the MacArthur Court baseline to propel Oregon to a victory over the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins.
Wednesday night, as both teams opened conference play, a different Brooks, Dillon Brooks, drained the game winner over the Bruins, launching a 3-pointer from the top of the key and knocking it down with just 0.8 seconds remaining to give the Ducks the 89-87 upset victory.
“I saw Aaron Brooks hit a great shot, and it resonated in my mind,” said Brooks. “If I ever get that chance I want to do the same, and it happened today.” The junior forward finished with a game high 23 points and paced the Ducks with nine rebounds.
Freshman guard Payton Pritchard, who had a game high nine assists, praised Brooks’ work ethic coming off off-season foot surgery.
“It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve been a part of. Just watching Dillon (Brooks) hit that last shot; when you work as hard as Dillon does, great things happen like that.”
UCLA seemed to put the game away after Thomas Welch drained a jump shot with just over 3 minutes remaining, and the Ducks not being able to find consistency on offense. Turnovers by Aaron Holiday and Ike Anigbogu, along with missed free throws, allowed the Ducks to cut the game to one with fifteen seconds remaining.
Oregon sent Bryce Alford, a team leading 87 percent free throw shooter, to the line but missed the front end of the 1-and-1.
“That’s who we wanted at the line and he made some big shots to get us back in it, and I told him and the whole team that I’m never going to fault anyone for taking good shots. We took good shots today, whether it was free throws or otherwise,” said UCLA coach Steve Alford.
Dillon Brooks then dribbled up the court and hit what will go down as one of the most iconic shots in Oregon basketball history, and the biggest shot in Matthew Knight Arena history.
UCLA came into the game leading the nation in field goal percentage and assists, as well as top five in 3-point percentage and points per game, but was unable to make stops defensively down the stretch.
Oregon’s win also extends its home winning streak to 34 games, the longest in program history and the second longest active streak in the nation. Senior guard Bryce Alford spoke on the sellout crowd, saying, “There’s a reason they don’t lose here. They’re a big-time basketball team and it’s a big-time atmosphere.”
Coach Alford shared Bryce Alford’s thoughts. “That’s an outstanding team. We’re not going to end everybody’s home streaks during the course of the year, obviously. I thought we fought like crazy. I thought we had a really good second half and we shot the ball at a high level again,” the head coach said. “This was a defense that was top 30 in the country and we got 87 and we shot it well. We did it at Kentucky, but we weren’t able to close this one. I think there was three minutes and 40 seconds to go and we’re up, and we lose that four minute game, 17-8.”
“I thought all the guys did everything they could. I love the fight. This is not an easy place to play and this is a team that was picked to win it (the Pac-12). It would have been nice to get it, but we didn’t, and now we have to bounce back on Friday,” the coach continued.
Although Oregon got the win, Ducks head coach Dana Altman still believes the road to the Pac-12 Championship is through UCLA. “They’re the team to beat. We won a home game by two points. You’re supposed to win at home,” Altman commented. “With their explosiveness, I still think they’re the team to beat. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Offensively they’re a level above us right now. We’re going to have to work really hard to hang around them and try to catch them at some point.”
The Ducks and Bruins will play again in over a month on February 9, when UCLA will get its chance to win at its home venue. For now, UCLA will stay in the Pacific Northwest to take on the Oregon State Beavers on Friday at night, and Oregon will try to extend its home winning streak on Friday against the No. 22 ranked and undefeated USC Trojans at 7 p.m.
To see the Dillon Brooks’ game winner, click on the link: https://twitter.com/GoDucks/status/814324713602154497
Photo Credit: Daily Bruin
