Joseph Young

Oregon guard Joseph Young (3) pushes the ball up-court around Washington State forward D.J. Shelton (23) after grabbing a rebound as forward Richard Amardi (13) and forward Mike Moser (0) watch during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, in Pullman, Wash.

(AP Photo/Dean Hare)

EUGENE – After losing five consecutive games, Oregon needed a victory Sunday. It got a rout.

Now, after nearly tumbling out of every NCAA Tournament projection, Oregon needs a winning streak. It gets a much tougher challenge Thursday: UCLA.

After a loss to Washington on last week, coach Dana Altman and guard Joseph Young stood in a quiet Alaska Airlines Arena surveying the damage and each said they believed one win was all it would take to turn the team’s fortunes around for a return to Pac-12 respectability. Oregon got that win Sunday, and it’s difficult to imagine busting a slump in more emphatic fashion than what UO did to the Cougars.

The Cougars made 10 field goals, with just two of those two-point field goals, shot 25 percent from the field and in a sign of just how poorly WSU has played this season, none of those statistics was a season low. (The Ducks’ 43 rebounds set a season high for a WSU opponent, however.)

The 71-44 win became such a laugher than Waverly Austin, who hadn’t played in the last two games, played four minutes and defensive lineman Arik Armstead, who hadn’t played at all in parts of two seasons at Oregon, scored.

Now it’s time to find out whether Oregon looked so good because its opponent is so bad or if some of what worked against the 1-7 Cougars will translate against a more worthy opponent in UCLA.

In Pac-12 statistics, the Bruins are second in points per game, eighth in points allowed, second in field goal percentage and sixth in defensive field-goal percentage. They’ve hung around the periphery of the Associated Press Top 25’s lower edge all season and came within four points of beating Arizona on Jan. 9. The Bruins are the type of team Oregon must beat to regain the luster of its 13-0 start, in other words. At Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday evening, we'll see whether Oregon's win in Pullman was the start of another streak.

Onto the links:

Oregon called the atmosphere

The Register-Guard's recap of

.

Addicted to Quack recaps

here, too.

A UO

gets 34 points and 25 rebounds Sunday.

The women's team is fueled by

.

Here's my AP Top 25 ballot