Pac 12 Basketball: Dillon Brooks' game winner ends UCLA's undefeated season

Dillon Brooks drilled a deep three with 0.8 seconds remaining to lead Oregon to a victory over UCLA in a Pac 12 basketball showdown in Eugene.

I think you can say Dillon Brooks is officially back.

After missing the first three games of the season due to a foot injury and battling bouts of inconsistent play over the past 11 outings, the Oregon Ducks‘ best player helped his team capture their biggest win of the season on Wednesday evening.

The Ducks knocked off the previously unbeaten UCLA Bruins, 89-87, in Eugene thanks to Brooks’ game winning three with 0.8 seconds remaining. The crowd rushed the floor following the made trey (they thought the game was over), but the refs surprisingly did not call a technical for a delay of game or anything of that nature. UCLA inbounded the ball on the ensuing possession and couldn’t get a good shot off.

While the three will be the most memorable play of an outstanding basketball game between two top 25 teams, Brooks was playing at a high level all night long. The forward scored a season high 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four assists and made 45 percent of his shots from the field.

On top of his offense and rebounding totals, Brooks also had the task of occasionally guarding one of the best guards in the nation, Lonzo Ball. And he did a pretty good job of it, limiting Ball to just 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting and six assists.

But this game wasn’t just one of the showdowns of the season because of the ending. This was an aesthetically pleasing match-up that featured a ton of offense, very little defense, some fantastic spurts and many jaw dropping plays.

And Oregon looked like the the Pac 12 favorite that they were projected to be coming into the season.

The Ducks shot lights out from beyond the three point line in the first half, and while they missed three’s and free throws in the second frame, they got enough stops and enough of a heroic performance out of Brooks to walk away with a monumental victory. Jordan Bell was all over the court on Wednesday, Payton Pritchard had one of the best games of his young career and the Ducks, as a team, only turned it over nine times.

Oregon shot 45 percent from the field and 37 percent from deep, while forcing 14 UCLA turnovers on the other end of the court.

When the Ducks are clicking on all cylinders like they were on Wednesday evening, they’re a top seven team nationally and arguably the best team in the Pac 12. Altman’s unit has Final Four potential as long as they continue to develop their chemistry and Brooks and Chris Boucher remain healthy.

Dylan Ennis and Tyler Dorsey continued their funk and serve as question marks, but they did combine to score 21 points in the win.

Meanwhile, UCLA didn’t put forth their best performance for the second time in three games. The Bruins continued to turn the ball over, struggled to defend the Ducks’ high octane offense and their biggest names were quiet for long stretches of the game.

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UCLA trailed by as many as eight points in the second half and 12 for the game because Ball was non-existent 30 minutes, Aaron Holiday didn’t have the impact that he has had in past games and Isaac Hamilton had two points. Thomas Welsh (20 points and 10 rebounds) and Bryce Alford (20 points) were tremendous, but the balance that has thrown teams off just wasn’t as evident on Wednesday evening.

But offense is not UCLA’s problem, not even close. We know they’re going to score buckets and talking about their “weaknesses” on that end of the floor is nit-picking. It’s the defensive end that should be concerning. The Bruins gave up 89 points on Wednesday and sometimes showed very little resistance.

The good news for UCLA is that Oregon is a very good team known for their offense. Brooks is a monster and Oregon seems to be hitting their stride at the right time. This was also a road game in their first conference match-up of the 2016-17 season, so there is no room for concern at this point.

UCLA has been much improved on the defensive end of the floor from last year and have shown flashes of brilliance in games against Kentucky and Texas A&M.

Next: Building a resume and the bubble as it is

Regardless, these are the two best teams in the Pac-12 and the regular season title is likely to come down to the last week of March. Brooks and the Ducks are back, and UCLA isn’t going anywhere with Ball running the show.

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Pac 12 Basketball: Dillon Brooks’ game winner ends UCLA’s undefeated season

By Carmine Carcieri | Dec 29, 2016

Dillon Brooks drilled a deep three with 0.8 seconds remaining to lead Oregon to a victory over UCLA in a Pac 12 basketball showdown in Eugene.

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