Three Points: UCLA vs. Oregon, Oregon State

No. 9 UCLA men’s basketball (11-2, 3-1 Pac-12) split its most recent weekend home series, losing 84-81 in overtime to Oregon (11-6, 4-2) on Thursday before beating Oregon State (3-13, 1-5) by a score of 81-65 on Saturday. The two-game slate marked the first time the team has scored more than 80 points in back-to-back games since mid-November, but the defense struggled in multiple areas. In the inaugural Three Points column of the season, here are the three main talking points from the Bruins’ up-and-down weekend.

Big rotation unsettled

Heading into the weekend, it was critical for UCLA to have serviceable options down low.

Oregon has a glut of bigs on its roster, seemingly always playing with one of its four players of 6-foot-11 or taller on the court. Oregon State similarly plays big, with either 7-foot-1 center Roman Silva or forward Warith Alatishe roaming the middle – often at the same time.

So when redshirt senior forward Cody Riley picked up two fouls a mere 30 seconds into the Bruins’ clash with the Ducks, it was a sign of bad things to come.

Riley, who is still recovering from an early-season knee injury, played only 39 minutes across the two games. While his offensive stats were more than respectable – 20 total points on 8-of-11 shooting – he was clearly not himself on the court, grabbing just four rebounds total while getting picked on defensively. In fact, Riley has grabbed just 11 rebounds in four games since returning from injury.

This made it all the more important to get quality rotation minutes from redshirt senior center Myles Johnson.

Unfortunately, the Rutgers transfer was not up to the task.

Johnson logged 31 minutes combined in the two games, including a season-low 11 on Saturday. He was the target on Oregon’s pick-and-roll attack, and Oregon State followed suit, routinely taking Johnson out of the action and away from his usual perch under the basket. Johnson was held without a block – for only the second time this season – against the Beavers.

It seemed as if coach Mick Cronin had seen enough too, putting redshirt junior forward/center Kenneth Nwuba ahead of Johnson in the second half before Nwuba was taken out due to an injury.

While it’s fair to assume that Riley will get his feet underneath him soon enough as he ramps back up from an MCL sprain, Johnson’s struggles are something to monitor as the Pac-12 season continues.

Small-ball

With his post rotation, Cronin started to experiment with some different lineups over the weekend.

Starting in the first half of the Oregon loss with Riley in foul trouble, Cronin utilized a lineup of redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell, junior guard Johnny Juzang, junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., freshman guard/forward Peyton Watson and sophomore guard Jaylen Clark.

The lineup with Clark at center was outscored 4-2, with an offensive rebound by Oregon guard Rivaldo Soares that turned into two Duck points, prompting Cronin to pull the plug after 43 seconds.

Fast forward to Saturday, and Cronin turned to a similar lineup – this one with senior guard Jules Bernard in place of the injured Jaquez.

The five-man crew was a +4 in four minutes of action, holding the Beavers to a 1-of-7 clip from the field. The trend continued in the second half, with the same lineup holding its opponent scoreless for nearly three whole minutes.

While Cronin said after the latter game that he worries about rebounding with that lineup on the court, it actually held a 6-4 rebound advantage over those two stretches against Oregon State.

Given the current state of the post rotation, a small lineup is far and away UCLA’s highest-ceiling defensive option.

For starters, it allows the Bruins to play their five best players on the court at the same time. Until Riley returns to form, UCLA is better off with him on the bench and someone like Watson or Clark – who are more than capable of guarding on the perimeter – in his place on the defensive end.

The lineup also allows for some wrinkles on offense. While Clark and Watson aren’t exactly the best shooters on the team, they draw out the defense just far enough to open up driving lanes for Campbell, Juzang and Jaquez.

It’s likely Cronin is planning to use this small lineup in moderation, keeping it in his back pocket for emergencies late in the season.

But there’s a case to be made to utilize this option more in the regular, season should the bigs continue to struggle defensively.

Peyton Watson’s time is near

Peyton Watson responded to limited playing time with the best weekend of his collegiate basketball career.

After he was limited to eight minutes the game before, the freshman guard/forward played 21 minutes against Oregon on Thursday, scoring in double figures for only the second time donning the blue and gold. Despite his inefficient 4-of-12 shooting, Watson buried two shots from beyond the arc – just his second and third 3-pointers of the season – while adding eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Following the loss, Cronin had high praise for the freshman.

“The only bright spot is Peyton Watson’s effort and his eight rebounds,” Cronin said in between jabs at at his team.

In the following game, Cronin played Watson 23 minutes, which tied a season best for the former five-star recruit. He only scored four points, but again contributed in other aspects of the game, finishing with five rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

As he did after Thursday’s contest, Cronin had only positive things to say about Watson’s impact after the game against the Beavers.

“Peyton, stats mean nothing to me – I look at Peyton’s floor game defensively, blocked shots, rebounding activity, defense, his attitude,” Cronin said. “(His growth is) huge for us.”

The coach says it best: if UCLA can regularly get these kinds of contributions from Watson, it will make a world of difference for the Bruins.

On defense, UCLA has no one quite like him. His ability to rover around and block shots all over the court is unique to him, with his 11 blocks at second on the team despite his playing the second-least minutes per game among rotation players.

His most critical attribute, however, is his rebounding. His 13 boards across the two games this weekend were the second most on the team, as the guard/forward also pulled down six offensive rebounds.

While it may not live up to his McDonald’s All-American recruit billing, Watson’s ideal role is the one he played over the weekend: defending and rebounding at a high level while occasionally knocking down a few jump shots.

Should Watson do that on a consistent basis, UCLA may finally have a fit for its newest piece of the puzzle.