Oregon Ducks Basketball

McArthur Court was rocking Saturday night. At least it was for the first 39 minutes of the game between Washington State and Oregon. The final minute was controlled by the WSU Cougars who came away with the win 62-53.

The conference victory for WSU in Eugene completed their sweep of both Oregon and Oregon State on this season. In the process, they improved their conference record to 8-5 with five games left.

Coach Ernie Kent and 9,000+ excitable fans saw the Ducks start off nicely, moving quickly out to 4-2 lead. Turns out that was their last lead of the game. Oregon drew within a point at 47-46 Cougs with about 5 minutes left. Great defense by the Quack Attack held WSU scoreless for six minutes while drawing within a point, giving their frustrated offense a chance to get back in the game.

After a timeout with about three and half minutes to go, Coach Tony Bennett decided that Aron Baynes held a big advantage near the paint. He issued instructions and the rest is now history. Baynes poured in seven points in the next couple of minutes. That was it.

Down the stretch, the Ducks were forced to foul in order to have a chance to win. Unfortunately, WSU kept the ball in the hands of Taylor Rochestie. Rochestie made Oregon pay, making seven of eight free throws with the game on the line.

This was a complete team effort and victory. Rochestie continued his torrid scoring by tallying 21 points.

Derrick Low was on fire in the first half from three-point range and finished the game with 16. Baynes not only scored a dozen points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked two shots, had two steals, but he stayed out of foul trouble for the first time in recent memory.

Aron was on the floor for 34 minutes, probably a season high.

Both Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill were quiet at the offensive end of the court, but their defense was stellar.

Defense was the key to the game for Washington State. The Cougs held Oregon to 26 points below their season average. Ouch! They out-hustled the Ducks on the boards, out-rebounding them 31-20.

Maarty Leunen played outstanding for Oregon, scoring 20 points, pulling down six rebounds and stealing the ball twice. No other Oregon player managed to score in double figures. Enough said.

Washington State returns home with their 20th win against just five losses. You can be certain they will make a move up in the national rankings and are virtually assured of their invitation to the NCAA tournament. That’s amazing stuff when you realize that they have yet to have all their starters play a great game at the same time. If that ever happens, WSU will be very tough to beat.

As if they aren’t tough enough now.

GO COUGS!!!

Saturday evening, Washington State will play the second of their two games in Oregon, facing the dangerous Ducks in Eugene.

Both teams are coming off routine wins Thursday evening. Oregon took care of defending their home court against the inconsistent Washington Huskies. WSU kept the Beavers' winless streak alive in the Pac-10, dropping OSU to 0-12 in conference play.

The Ducks have been a hot and cold team this season. Coach Ernie Kent has seen his troops sweep Cal and Stanford one week, then turn around and lose to both Washington and Washington State the next. The following week, Oregon dropped two games at home to UCLA and USC. They rebounded with a convincing win over Oregon State.

Then again, the Beavers have been the whipping boy for everyone in the Pac-10 this year.

WSU vs Oregon

Site: McArthur Court, Eugene, OR

Tipoff: 6pm

Television: FSN

Online: Gametracker

Will the Ducks be ready to play defense against the Cougars? Oregon gave them all they could handle in Pullman last month.

Though the final was 69-60 WSU, Coach Kent’s team was in it right up to the end.

Oregon was leading 34-30 at halftime because of terrific shooting from beyond the arc. The Ducks were 5-10 from three point country.

Coach Tony Bennett made defensive adjustments at halftime, something he is brilliant at, and Oregon went 2-10 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.

There’s the lesson on how to beat Oregon: Limit their sharp-shooters' good looks from outside, and Oregon will be in trouble. Ask Coach Romar after his Huskies let the Ducks bomb away from outside. They were a sizzling 56 percent from "deep-deep-deep" last night.

Churchill Odia, the transfer from Xavier who played just one year of high school basketball before stepping into Division I, came off the bench and lit Washington up by going 4-5 on his three-point attempts. Bryce Taylor , a career 1,000-plus point scorer, went 3-5 and the diminutive dynamo Tajuan Porter was 2-5. Porter, at 5-6, has a big shot from three-point range as witnessed by the 110 he poured in last season.

And I almost forgot—big man Maarty Leunen stepped out to knock down both of his three-point attempts.

Oregon is a team built for speed. They are at their best when they can run and gun…then run some more. Washington State forces their opponents to play a half court game. The Cougs will be challenged to keep the Ducks below their scoring average for the season, 79 points per game. Coach Bennett’s team proved they can do just that on their home court in front of the Zzu Cru. The question is, can they do that on the road in Eugene? Simple answer: Yes.

If you want to see this game in it’s entirety, suggest that you power down a couple of Red Bulls before tipoff and have at least a six-pack of Mountain Dew within easy reach. There will be no surprises in what Coach Bennett wants his team to do Saturday on McArthur Court.

On defense, the Cougs will pressure the ball to force the Ducks deep into the shot clock before launching a shot. WSU will run their half-court offense to do the same thing.

The difference in the game may very well turn on offensive rebounding. Given the Ducks' propensity for shooting from outside, misses will typically sail off the rim into the hands of players with the most hustle.

Oregon State had their way with the Cougs on the offensive boards, out-hustling them 13-5. Grabbing 13 offensive rebounds in a game qualifies as a job well done.

Oregon is probably the most experienced team in the conference, with five seniors. The Cougs match up well in that category, with three senior starters of their own. In other words, home court advantage shouldn’t be much of an issue. Though the Ducks are better than their 6-6 conference record might suggest, they are slightly outmatched by the 7-5 Cougars.

WSU will return to Pullman with their 20th win on the season, a magic number that should clinch an invitation to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

GO COUGS!!!

In a matter of two days and two focused team meetings, Oregon found something.

Something even coach Ernie Kent couldn't quite explain: a 3-point shooting performance he had never seen from his team.

"This had very little do with X's and O's today," he said.

Tajuan Porter hit four straight 3s during a decisive run to start the second half and seven in all, and the Ducks made a school-record 18 3-pointers to beat California 92-70 on Saturday and end a 16-game losing streak in the Bay Area dating back nearly eight years.

Bryce Taylor scored Oregon's first seven points after the break and the Ducks made eight consecutive 3-pointers and 10 of 11 from long range during one stretch to quickly turn a two-point halftime lead into a rout. They wound up 18-of-31 on 3s and Taylor scored a team-high 28 points with five 3s.

Oregon's 3-point total was a record at Pete Newell Court.

"Everybody had their rhythm. Everybody was feeling it," Porter said. "Everybody was looking out for each other and shooting the ball with great confidence."

Malik Hairston had 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots before fouling out late in Oregon's 58-point second half. He became the 10th Oregon player to reach 1,500 points after joining the school's top-10 scoring list Thursday at Stanford.

"It's tough to defend when you've got guys across the court who can shoot like that," Hairston said.

Porter finished with 23 points, 7-for-11 on 3s, and Taylor started the 19-6 run after

intermission for Oregon (14-9, 5-6 Pac-10), which rebounded from its worst offensive outing since late 1991 with one its most impressive this year.

The Ducks, who managed only 14 total field goals in a 72-43 loss Thursday at Stanford, had dropped five of six and gone 0-3 on the road since an 84-74 victory at Arizona on Jan. 5.

Against ninth-ranked Stanford, Oregon was held to its lowest point total since a 78-39 loss to Montana on Nov. 22, 1991—also the Ducks' lowest output in a conference game in the beginning of the shot-clock era in 1986-87.

They were just 4-of-18 from 3-point range in the Stanford game.

"Sometimes you do need to hit rock bottom ... we were certainly there on Thursday," Kent said. "These guys learned a life lesson. I'm happy for them to be able to go through it. I hope they don't forget the lesson they learned. It's something they can take on to later in life."

Maarty Leunen added 17 points with four 3s, 11 rebounds and seven assists as Oregon snapped Cal's three-game winning streak, the Golden Bears' longest in Pac-10 play since the team won six in a row from Jan. 26-Feb. 16, 2006, and denied Ben Braun his 550th career victory.

"It definitely hurts," Cal's Ryan Anderson said. "We had a nice run going. Our confidence was high. I don't know what it was about tonight. We just weren't really focused or prepared as we usually are."

Jerome Randle scored 17 to lead Cal (14-8, 5-6), leaving briefly in the second half after getting hit in the face. He sustained a chipped tooth, ankle sprain and bruised thigh.

DeVon Hardin added 13 points, Anderson had 17 and six boards and Cal was outrebounded 32-20.

The Bears had been among one of the better teams in the conference at defending the 3.

"That's something we've done a decent job at," Braun said. "We didn't get it done today. They hit some big shots. That's probably as well as they've shot. They came off their worst shooting game. They're just too good a shooting team. You give them 3-point looks and that's what they do. They knock down shots."

Hardin, who didn't play against Washington State or Washington last weekend because of a viral infection, came off the bench for the second straight game.

The Ducks hadn't won in the Bay Area since a 64-60 victory at Cal on Feb. 12, 2000. The streak also included a loss this season at now-No. 25 Saint Mary's, where Kent got his first head coaching job.

Hairston scored five with three rebounds and an assist in the opening eight minutes. He and Taylor also played strong defense on Patrick Christopher, Cal's second-leading scorer coming in at 16.6 points per game. Christopher had a tough time penetrating, going 0-for-7 overall with just two points.

"It was definitely huge," Hairston said of bouncing back after the demoralizing loss Thursday. "We were embarrassed and don't want that to ever happen again."

The Ducks hit five of its first eight shots and jumped to a 10-1 advantage on the boards with several second-chance opportunities. After they went up 16-9, Cal answered with a 12-2 run that featured four points by Randle and back-to-back 3s from Anderson and Nican Robinson.

When Daniel Hackett went to the line Saturday Night with USC Leading 73-69, he was trying to forget all about last year's meltdown against Memphis.

In that game, Hackett missed the free throw that would have tied the Tigers.

Well folks, he had a relapse. Hackett missed two straight from the line and on the next Ducks possession, 5'7 guard Tajuan Porter nailed a 3-pointer to make it 73-72.

Porter did not score until there was just under five minutes left in the second half and those points came on free throws.

O.J. Mayo suffered from cramps early in the first half and they returned late, causing him to miss the final minute and a half of regulation.

On the next USC possession, Hackett was again fouled. The only difference this time was he made the first one. With no timeouts remaining, the Ducks drove the length of the court, but Porter's layup danced off the rim and the ball went to the floor.

The Ducks and Trojans got into a scrap, forcing a jump ball scenario. Lucky for the Ducks, the possession arrow was in their favor.

On the inbound, Malik Hairston found a cutting Bryce Taylor for a layup to send the game into overtime with the score tied at 74. The Ducks had come from 14 down in the game and from 10 down with 2:00 to play.

USC won the tip and started overtime off with a bang, nailing three straight 3-pointers to make it 83-74.

After the USC barrage, the Ducks responded by hitting two straight 3-pointers (Porter, Lunnen) to cut the lead to 85-80. On their next trip down the floor the Ducks' Joevon Catron was fouled and made both free throws to cut the deficit to three.

Hackett freed himself from Porter to knock down a clutch 3-pointer from the corner to make it 88-82. Bryce Taylor then missed a 3-pointer and the Ducks had no choice but to foul.

Down five, with less than a minute remaining, Oregon coach Ernie Kent told his team not to foul. The decision backfired, as Mayo penetrated and kicked the ball out to a wide-open Angelo Johnson, who drained the 3-pointer and put the Ducks' comeback to rest with 22.4 seconds left. 

The final score was USC 95-86. With the loss, the Ducks fall to 12-8 and 3-5 in conference play. USC's record jumps to 13-6 and 4-3 in the Pac-10.

Hackett led all USC Scorers with 26 points, followed by Mayo with 25. Malik led all Oregon scorers with 21 points.

The Ducks' next game is against Oregon State, with the Trojans taking on Arizona.

The Washington State Cougars notched another win Sunday evening against their hoops nemesis the Oregon Ducks.  In a game controlled by the Ducks for 35 minutes, the Cougs finally defeated Oregon for the first time in their last 14 meetings. 

Yikes!  If ever there was a steak due to be broken, this was surely the one. 

When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read WSU 69 - Oregon 60.

As they did against UCLA a week ago, WSU came out of the blocks as cold as a polar bear’s nose in mid-January.  Before the packed house in Pullman could get revved up to motivate their beloved Cougs, Oregon pulled out a 7-0 lead. 

For Cougar fans, things got a lot worse before they got better.  The Ducks held an 11-point margin several times in the first half before WSU closed the constant gap to four, 34-30 at the half.

So what happened in the first half?  The execution of an outstanding game plan by coach Ernie Kent and a tremendous team effort by Oregon, that’s what.  The Ducks played at their pace, dictating the tempo of the game for much of the first half.  That’s what happened.  Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen completely outplayed Kyle Weaver and Aron Baynes in the first half.  That’s what happened.

So what happened to the Ducks in the second half?  Derrick Low happened.  The senior Low had a monster game scoring 27 points on 10-16 shooting from the field, had four steals, and played 39 minutes.  He was not to be denied this victory and virtually willed the rest of the team to shut down Oregon in the second half.

The pressure of trying to match the Coug’s aggressive style of defense took a toll on Oregon in the final ten minutes.  They ended up with 15 turnovers while the Cougars had just 7.  Oregon's shots started coming up a little short down the stretch when it was clear they were tiring.

The calm, controlled manner of Coach Tony Bennett reflected his team's playing demeanor.  Despite horrendous shooting in the first half, the Cougs never showed any panic.  They played within themselves, not succumbing to the pressure applied by a pesky Duck defense and smart passing offense.

Over 11,000 fans went home with huge smiles.  But they didn’t leave until standing and cheering for several minutes in tribute to their team after the clock ran out on Oregon.  Fans couldn’t have asked for more after seeing a hard fought college basketball game played under control and with tremendous intensity by both teams.

On a weekend that saw a massive number of Top 25 teams go down to defeat, No. 8 Washington State played up to their national ranking.  Look at what happened across the nation:

No. 1 North Carolina lost to unranked Maryland

No. 4 UCLA lost to unranked USC

No. 10 Texas A&M lost to unranked Kansas State

No. 13 Marquette lost to unranked Connecticut

No. 15 Pittsburgh lost to unranked Cincinnati

No. 18 Mississippi lost to unranked Auburn

No. 21 Miami lost to unranked NC State

No. 22 Arizona State lost to unranked Stanford

No. 24 Clemson lost to No. 7 Duke

After their win against Oregon, Washington State holds a share of first place in the PAC-10 with a 4-1 conference record and 16-1 overall.

Next up…the Arizona schools.

GO COUGS!!!

Washington State will play host to the Oregon Ducks on the Pullman campus Sunday evening at 5pm. Cougar Nation will be out in full force to encourage their hoopsters in a rare Sunday game. Not so rare is the fact that the game will be televised on FSN Northwest.

Predicting a win over Oregon State wasn’t exactly rocket science. The Beavers are a team trying to find an identity and play well together. That hasn’t happened for them as of yet.

Oregon is a completely different story. Not only is it a team that can win games in the PAC-10, it will win games in conference play. It will take a strong effort by the Cougs to force the Ducks to wait until next win to begin a winning streak.

VS

Site: Friel Court, Pullman, WA

Tipoff: Sunday 5pm

Television: Fox Sports Net (Northwest)

Online: None

Oregon arrives in Pullman fresh from a loss to the Huskies on Thursday evening. Sure, Washington isn’t one of the top teams in conference, but as is always the case, they are very tough to beat at home. Oregon was in that game right up until the end before falling 78-70. That margin was stretched at the end when Oregon was forced to foul after missing a couple of shots.

The Ducks are an impressive 12-5 on this season, sporting a 3-2 PAC-10 record following their loss to Washington (who earned their first conference win in the process). Oregon loves to run, run, run. Then the Ducks want to run some more. Obviously that is the exact opposite of what WSU imposes on defense when they’re playing their game. The Ducks don’t mind giving up 73 points a game because they are scoring an average of 82 points per game. Yes, these two teams are complete opposites in terms of style.

Scoring—that’s what you think about when considering Oregon. It is a team that loves to fill it up. The Ducks are led by seniors Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen (no, that isn’t a typo on Maarty’s first name) with 18 and 16 points respectively. If you want to get technical—and who doesn’t—both of these seniors have already graduated, earning the bachelor’s degree. That tells you something about their commitment to the Oregon basketball team and their head coach Ernie Kent.

This is Kent’s tenth season at the helm of Duck basketball. His loyalty can be easily traced back to 1977 when he completed his bachelor’s program at Oregon with degrees in community service and public affairs. Yes, if you cut Coach Kent, he’ll quack and bleed a hideous yellow and green with a Nike swoosh.

One stat that jumps out at you when looking at Oregon’s performance thusfar is the fact that they haven’t played well on the road this season. All five of their losses have been outside the friendly confines of McArthur Court. Considering that this is a team with plenty of experience, that’s a bit of a surprise and something that is likely to change very soon.

So here’s the deal. Chances are that the Cougs won’t keep a lid on the Duck offense the way they usually do. However, they will score against this team. Oregon doesn’t have a player that can match up well with Aron Baynes. Baynes is coming off another thunderous performance, too. Cougar Nation should have plenty to cheer about Sunday afternoon.

PREDICTION: WSU 78 - Oregon 64

GO COUGS!!!

Malik Hairston and Bryce Taylor scored 20 points apiece and Oregon held off California 79-70 on Thursday.Maarty Leunen added 18 points and 11 rebounds for his Pacific-10 Conference leading 10th double-double of the season.

The Ducks (11-4, 2-1 Pac-10) have won back-to-back games for the first time since early December.Ryan Anderson, the Pac-10s leading scorer, scored 22 points and Patrick Christopher added 21 for the Bears (10-4, 1-2), who were playing their first road game since Dec. 9.Oregon (83.4) and Cal (80.5) entered as the top scoring teams in the Pac-10, but both struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first half.

Oregon made few attempts at getting to the basket, preferring to take their chances with long-range attempts. The strategy worked to a degree, as the Ducks led 31-26 at halftime.California shot 35 percent in the first half and went almost six minutes without scoring after Jerome Randle hit a 3-pointer to cut the Bears deficit to 21-20 with 9:22 left in the half.  Oregon failed to take full advantage during Cal's cold stretch, only putting together a 6-0 run before a layup by Harper Kemp ended Cal's scoreless streak with 3:29 left in the half.

    Three-pointers by Kamyron Brown and Hairston put Oregon up 39-28 early in the second half, and another 3 by Hairston followed by a layup from Frantz Dorsainvil put the Ducks up 48-34 by the 14:31 mark.  But Christopher answered with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions cut Oregon's lead to 48-40. He later capped an 11-0 run with five straight points to give the Bears their first lead of the game, 56-54, with 7:18 to play.

    Leunen hit a 3-pointer at the other end to spark an Oregon run that put the Ducks back up 64-56 with 5:05 left. Christopher again got Cal close; his fifth 3-pointer of the night trimmed Oregon's lead to 66-64.

    But Brown followed with a pair of free throws for the Ducks, and after Hairston blocked an attempt by Anderson, he followed at the other end with a 3 to make it 71-64 with 1:57 to play.

    The Ducks shot 47 percent for the game. They made 15-of-20 shots from inside the 3-point line, but just 9-of-31 from outside it.