It was UCLA-Oregon, so weird things were bound to happen.
Into a rivalry that once saw Bruins guard Bryce Alford, one of the nation’s leading free-throw shooters, miss a late foul shot in a loss and UCLA come back from nine points down in the final 51 seconds to win came more unusual things Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
Leading by seven points with a little more than three minutes to play, the Bruins unraveled, falling behind by a point on Jackson Shelstad’s three-pointer with 10.7 seconds left.
Then came more madness. UCLA’s Dylan Andrews nearly stumbled after taking a pass before rising for a three-pointer that he banked in with four-tenths of a second left.
After UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. tipped away the full-court inbounds pass, the Bruins could celebrate a 73-71 triumph that gave No. 12 Oregon its first loss of the season.
Dailey scored 19 points on seven-for-eight shooting and Kobe Johnson added 11 points for the Bruins (8-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) in their seventh consecutive victory.
It almost went the other way.
UCLA had the ball and a two-point lead after calling timeout to set up a play with 49.7 seconds left. But a tipped Andrews pass that bounced off the backboard was stolen and Sheldstad rose for a three-pointer that gave the Ducks (9-1, 1-1) a 71-70 lead with 10.7 seconds left and sent the crowd into a tizzy.
The fans wouldn’t be loud much longer.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
