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Oregon holds its breath after Dillon Brooks suffers another injury

Dillon Brooks left Oregon's win over Cal with a
Dillon Brooks left Oregon’s win over Cal with a “lower left leg injury.” (AP)

Any joy Oregon might otherwise have gotten from its 86-63 rout of Cal was tempered by a worrisome injury.

Pac-12 player of the year candidate Dillon Brooks left the game at the end of the first half with what the Ducks are calling a lower left leg injury.

The injury appears to have happened on an innocuous play with less than a minute left in the first half when Brooks stepped awkwardly trying to avoid a teammate. Brooks walked to the locker room without assistance but did not return to the floor for the second half.

What’s especially concerning is that it’s Brooks’ left foot that required surgery after he hurt it during the offseason. Oregon coach Dana Altman would not say after the game whether Brooks had reinjured that foot and offered little clarity on his status going forward.

Brooks missed Oregon’s first three games of the season while recovering from his initial foot injury suffered in July. He did not play in the Ducks’ first loss of the season at Baylor and was still shaking the rust off in their second loss against Georgetown in Maui.

Since Brooks has recaptured his previous form, Oregon has looked more like the top 10 team it was billed to be before the season. The Ducks (17-2, 6-0) have reeled off a program record-tying 15 straight victories to ascend to first-place in the Pac-12 along with co-conference leader Arizona.

No player has been a bigger part of that win streak than Brooks. The versatile 6-foot-7 forward had 28 points in a rout of USC earlier this month and sank a game-wining 3-pointer at the buzzer in an upset of second-ranked UCLA two days earlier.

Brooks is averaging 13.6 points per game this season and is adept at taking advantage of mismatches, whether it’s by taking a smaller defender into the post or beating a bigger defender off the dribble. Without him, Oregon missed his scoring ability, intensity and vocal leadership.

If Brooks’ injury is serious, it will be the third significant injury in college basketball this week. Creighton point guard Maurice Watson tore an ACL over the weekend and Indiana forward O.G. Anunoby is out indefinitely with a not-yet-diagnosed knee injury that he sustained Wednesday night.

Without Brooks, Oregon wobbled a bit to start the second half before ultimately steadying itself and pulling away. Forward Jordan Bell scored 26 points on 11-for-12 shooting and typically pass-first guard Casey Benson came off the bench to nail all five 3-pointers he attempted.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!