By- Ian Sutliff

Eugene, OR-- On Sunday, the Oregon Ducks will travel to UCLA where both clubs will be looking to keep their conference records perfect through two games. While Oregon’s basketball program hasn’t been at its best over the last few years, it has beaten the UCLA Bruins in four straight games dating all the way back to January of 2020. With both squads coming in with win streaks and having faced tough non-conference competition, it will be telling on Sunday which team is better prepared moving forward. 

Oregon: 

It’s no secret that the Ducks aren’t a good three-point shooting club as they rank 331st out of the 358 teams in division 1 at a 28.6% clip. On Sunday though, Oregon may need to lean on its guards to get going from deep against a very talented UCLA team that has shot almost 40% from beyond the arc through the first eight games of this campaign. If Oregon can keep the Bruins mainly quiet from three-point range, then this game could swing in the direction of a Ducks team that’s biggest strength is its height. Out of all division 1 teams this season, Oregon ranks first in average height and it loves to get the ball into the post with leading scorer N’Faly Dante averaging more than 14 points per game. It also features a 7-footer in five-star Freshman Kel’el Ware who saw a steady increase in minutes during games with Michigan State and Villanova. With big man Nate Bittle still dealing with a foot injury and questionable to play on Sunday, Ware will likely see upwards of 30 minutes against a young Bruin frontcourt. Will Richardson, Quincy Guerrier, and Rivaldo Soares will also need to play an important role on both sides of the ball if the Ducks are to pull an upset against Mick Cronin’s squad.

UCLA: 

There might not be a better team in the country this season that mixes young and veteran talent together than the Bruins. Tyger Cambpell, Jaimie Jacquez, and Jaylen Clark are all upperclassmen that played important roles in the team’s final four run in 2021. Seniors Kenneth Nwuba and David Singleton also saw respectable minutes during that tournament and have been key bench players this season. That’s not to mention that UCLA also starts two five-star Freshmen in Amari Bailey and Adem Bona. Bailey, the number five recruit in the 2022 class had big expectations coming into the season but started off slow. Since the loss to Baylor, it’s starting to become very clear why the former Sierra Canyon guard was so highly recruited in high school. Over the past three games, Bailey is averaging 16.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists to go along with 63.3% shooting from the field (62.5% from 3). UCLA’s top five scorers are all guards, which means that the Bruins will likely try getting Oregon’s forwards into foul trouble early so that it doesn’t have to rely on Nwuba and Mac Etienne to play extended minutes against a tall Ducks team. 

Prediction: 

UCLA and Oregon are very different in how they play on the offensive side of the ball. Cronin loves to stretch the floor with four very capable perimeter shooters and an efficient Bona down low (67.7% shooter). On the other hand, Oregon has had to rely a lot more on Ware and Dante to carry the scoring load because of poor deep range shooting from the Ducks. If Richardson and Guerrier have a solid shooting night from beyond the arc, this could be a fairly close one in Westwood, but that’s a very big “what if” scenario. Oregon is looking a lot better over the past week, but the emergence of Bailey will make this a very tough day for the Ducks defensively. UCLA will snap its four game losing streak to Oregon, but don’t expect the Ducks to go down without a fight.

UCLA 79 – Oregon 68