JAY LEN SILENT HANDS STRIKES BACK

Hands stands alone. UCLA’s Jaylen Hands just had the half of a lifetime. After getting completely blanked by Oregon in the first half and watching the Bruins trail by 16 at the intermission, Hands jobbed the Ducks in the second half, scoring 27 — the most by a Bruin in one half in God knows how long — to lead UCLA all the way back to jerk the game away from Oregon in a 90-83 victory. Hands hit 7 three’s in the half, including the dagger in the final minute.

The Bruins scored 17 straight points in the second half, in a spurt reminiscent of the Wooden Glory Days. Hands was dominant, making NBA-distance treys, while Kris Wilkes and Jules Bernard also filled it up. Alex Olesinski and Jalen Hill were also on the floor contributing with Defense and Rebounding as the Bruins went on their remarkable run.

Even in a down year, it’s nice to see that the Bruins play with heart, and never quit, even when getting boat-raced off their own floor. What makes this particular comeback even more impressive is that the Ducks could NOT have been complacent, having just blown a 17-point lead to the Bruins in Eugene a month ago!

In that game, the Bruins set the Pac-12 All-Time Record for Last Minute Comeback, erasing a 9-point deficit in the final 60 seconds. So Oregon would never have thought that they had this game in the refrigerator. In fact, in one of their last games in Pauley, they also blew a 19-point lead, to the Lonzo-led Blue and Gold. Nonetheless, the Ducks went stone cold, and completely lost their drive. In the first half, their ball movement and interior passing were stellar, but all of that disappeared, as they played with FEAR. They were obviously spooked, afraid to blow their big lead again. When you play NOT TO LOSE instead of TO WIN, you end up losing, and that’s what happened.

Next up for UCLA is a revenge match with u$c. After getting beat soundly by troy last month, the Bruins have a chance to avenge that fiasco on Thursday night in Pauley. This season — barring a miracle run in the Pac-12 Tourney — is already being considered a failure to realize expectations, but if they lose to sc again, it could go down as one of the worst seasons ever. I hope Murry Bartow can communicate that to his squad, and help motivate them to play for 40 minutes like they did the last 20 tonight.

Here are nine photos of the Spirit Squad (left over from the Notre Dame game, and 1 gratuitous pic of Jaylen Hands taking a three-pointer, in honor of his record-setting second half tonight.