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Love, UCLA aim to remain atop Pac-10 standings

Feb 23, 2008 - 1:37 PM Oregon (15-11) at No. 6 UCLA (23-3) 3:30 pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Kevin Love already has a somewhat checkered history with Oregon. Love hopes to author another winning chapter to his storybook freshman season Saturday when sixth-ranked UCLA hosts the Ducks in a Pac-10 Conference clash.

An Oregon native, Love spurned the Ducks and his home state last year when he opted to attend UCLA.

It certainly was not a popular decision for Oregon, the alma mater of Love's father, Stan Love - an all-conference forward with the Ducks in 1970 and 1972.

The 6-10 Love was booed loudly on January 24 in his first return trip to Eugene, when UCLA held on for an 80-75 victory. Love overcame the poor crowd treatment to score 26 points and 18 rebounds, one of his 15 double-doubles this season.

Love has been the best player on a loaded Bruins squad this season, averaging team highs of 17.1 points and 11.0 rebounds in 26 games this season.

Love admitted that he was looking ahead to Saturday's matchup during UCLA's last game, an 84-49 thrashing of Oregon State on Thursday. The freshman matched a season low with 11 points over just 21 minutes, also a season low.

Russell Westbrook scored 17 points Thursday while Darren Collison added 14 and nine assists for the Bruins, who improved to 11-2 in Pac-10 play and remained one game ahead of second-place Stanford (21-4, 10-3) in the conference standings.

Oregon has lost its last two contests, including Thursday's 81-75 loss at Southern California.

Malik Hairston scored 17 points to pace the Ducks, who have dropped seven of their last 10 games to fall to 6-8 in Pac-10 play.

The Ducks have lost six of their last seven meetings with the Bruins, posting their only win over that span on January 6, 2007.