Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted January 26 My Duck-Buddies....I believe that last night was a landmark game for the Mens Basketball team. They could see and feel what the beginning of their upside is, that when they clamp down on defense, and move the ball--they can be a very tough team for anyone. It was apparent that Dante was getting the rust off against Utah/Colorado, and this game we saw more of his talents emerge. Unfortunately, it is taking Bittle longer, and I even have my doubts about how well we play with him in there, versus one of the fast-twitch smaller players? Now that was a perfect storm of great defense, and hitting all the shots, but nonetheless it shows the team, and gives them confidence about what they can do. For those who watched--do you think this was a big turning point in the season as I do? (I know, I am just a big Duck-Homer, but I am always looking to the bright points, and this feels like one) EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon remained perfect at home this season and retained a share of first place in the Pac-12 Conference with an 80-61 men's basketball victory Thursday over Arizona State before 6,170 fans in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks (14-5, 6-2 Pac-12) endured a scoreless stretch of more than seven minutes in the first half, falling behind by as many as 10. But they shot nearly 70 percent in the second half, 18-of-26, to turn the tables and break a tie in the conference standings with the Sun Devils (11-8, 5-3). "We took some questionable shots there — and that's being nice — that got us out of rhythm," UO coach Dana Altman said of the first-half cold stretch. "And defensively, we had eight deflections the whole first half; we had 27 the second half. That gives you an idea of the difference in the intensity." Oregon trailed 42-38 early in the second half, then proceeded to make its next 13 field-goal attempts. A basket by Kwame Evans Jr. broke a 47-47 tie and sparked a 15-0 run that gave the Ducks the lead for good, with Keeshawn Barthelemy providing seven points in that stretch. "It started with the defense — we got some stops, and then the basket got wider because we got some stops," Barthelemy said. "And we did a good job sharing the ball, making plays for each other." Jermaine Couisnard scored 19 points to lead the Ducks, and N'Faly Dante added 16 points with six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Barthelemy scored 12, and Nate Bittle had seven points in his return from a wrist injury. How It Happened: After ASU scored to open the game, Bittle made a three-pointer on the first UO possession. With 15:01 left in the half, Dante scored to put the Ducks back in front by one, 10-9. But from there Oregon went 7:16 until scoring again, with ASU mounting an 11-0 run to lead 20-11. Dante finally ended Oregon's cold stretch with a dunk, and moments later a Jadrian Tracey three followed by a Barthelemy three-point play got the Ducks back within 24-21. A bucket by Couisnard two possessions later made it 24-23, before ASU stretched the lead to 33-28 at halftime. At that point the Ducks seemed to have stabilized themselves, but they still were in a hole. "I looked at everybody in the locker room, I could tell everybody wanted to win this game," Dante said. "We all knew what we needed to do, and everybody decided to play defense." The Ducks scored on their first five possessions of the second half, the last a putback by Dante for a 38-38 tie. Oregon finally took its first lead since 10-9 when Evans hit a three for a 47-46 advantage, and after an ASU free throw tied it, Evans scored again. That gave the Ducks the lead for good and sparked the 15-0 run, with Evans passing to Barthelemy for a three-pointer on the next possession. "He did a nice job there off the bench, really made a couple good plays for us," Altman said of Evans, a freshman who started 16 games before coming off the bench the last two. "KJ really wants to help the team." Oregon's 10th straight made shot was a dunk by Dante to cap the 15-0 run for a 62-47 lead. After the teams traded scores for a few possessions, it was 65-52 when the UO men scored another nine straight to forge their biggest lead of the night at 74-52. Up Next: The Ducks host the other team that entered this week tied for first in the Pac-12, Arizona, on Saturday (2:30 p.m., FOX). 2 4 2 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicroBurst61 No. 2 Share Posted January 26 I whole heartedly agree. Not going to repeat my comments here from the post I made in MBB Thread by Penn Duck, but yeah, a tale of two halves and DEEP bench contributions. Developing into a very good team. Just need the consistency in all aspects of the game and we will be a tough out, regardless of who we are playing. Go Ducks! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 3 Share Posted January 26 6100 fans? Is school in session? Is this a typical 'crowd?' Hats off to Ducks Men's and women's CBB but are the teams getting enough support? Are the home games being marketed properly? Thanks for the take, Charles, and Go Ducks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 4 Share Posted January 26 On 1/26/2024 at 10:07 AM, Jon Joseph said: 6100 fans? Is school in session? Is this a typical 'crowd?' Hats off to Ducks Men's and women's CBB but are the teams getting enough support? Are the home games being marketed properly? Thanks for the take, Charles, and Go Ducks! I think that’s a reflection of where college basketball is generally at. I have watched zero college hoops games (in their entirety) that didn’t involve the Ducks this year. ASU has also never drawn well for us. Turned a corner? Maybe, we were already in first place in late January, but I do think we can do some serious damage being at full strength. Looking more and more like we’d better do something crazy like only lose 1-2 more games, or we’ll have to win the pac tourney to get in. Arizona at this point looks like the only team that can get in without the auto-bid. Funny thing, OSU beating UA may end up costing the pac2 millions of dollars in future tourney units. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 5 Share Posted January 26 (edited) I should add, part of my reasoning as to why OSU beating UA will cost the Pac2 is that Arizona will be at 6 losses when we beat them, which may well leave the current PAC with zero ranked teams. There are very few quality wins to be had, when the team in first place in late January isn’t even “receiving votes”, fewer teams in tourney this year = less future earning for conference. Edited January 26 by JabbaNoBargain 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anyotherduck No. 6 Share Posted January 26 The opportunity to win "benchmark" games passed last week. Ducks blew it. We'll win some more games this year, but making the tournament is probably a long shot. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graziani93 No. 7 Share Posted January 26 (edited) I like your points, Charles. Dante is starting to look like his old self, without hunching over trying to catch his breath all the time, like in last week's games. You can see he's gaining his confidence again, and the multiple dunks sure don't hurt. I don't have the doubts that you do about Bittle though. For a guy in his first game back, 7 points in limited minutes is not so shabby. He hit the Ducks' first shot of the game, a 3 pointer, with no hesitation. Because his injury was the wrist, he probably was able to stay in running condition. His presence on the defensive end, along with Dante, altered ASU's shots and did not allow them to bully our smaller guys. And how about Bittle when he's on the bench? He's the biggest cheerleader, pumping up his teammates on the court. Gotta love this guy! The ASU win was huge, but Saturday's game against Arizona is obviously the big one. A win against the team who's still favored to win the conference will make my year! Edited January 26 by Graziani93 1 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 8 Share Posted January 26 (edited) On 1/26/2024 at 10:38 AM, anyotherduck said: The opportunity to win "benchmark" games passed last week. Ducks blew it. We'll win some more games this year, but making the tournament is probably a long shot. We still have Arizona twice, LA schools on the road, and Mountain teams at home. It ain’t much, but going 5-1 in those games would probably get us in, assuming no more than 1 other random loss. Those 6 games are critical for an at large. Another thing that would help is another team stepping up and finishing strong. If everyone keeps never winning on the road we’re getting one team in. Edited January 26 by JabbaNoBargain Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 9 Share Posted January 26 On 1/26/2024 at 10:38 AM, anyotherduck said: The opportunity to win "benchmark" games passed last week. Ducks blew it. We'll win some more games this year, but making the tournament is probably a long shot. Sorry, but since I am "Hopelessly Devoted to the Ducks," I would like to believe that we will be in the tournament if we play tough defense like last night. We are not even at the half-way point of the conference season of 20 games, thus if we play well the rest of the way.... 1 1 3 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 10 Share Posted January 26 We'll probably need to win Saturday, then go on a pretty impressive run to get into the conversation of the tournament, not winning in the Rockies was pretty bad for the resume, not because those teams are bad it's just that we basically have one more road game on the schedule that could help the resume substantially in Arizona, where it is very difficult to win. Really could have used Arizona winning the other night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Rocks No. 11 Share Posted January 26 The first half and second half were polar opposites. For them to be behind by ten points and eventually win by twenty while shutting down their star player, Perez, was phenomenal and truly shows their capabilities. It's so unfortunate that they had the early injuries but unlike the last two years, they persevered and hung on until their two big guys could play. They have an ability to play at a very high level and if they can play together, improve their defense and embrace their roles on the team. Hopefully they can finish strong in conference play and earn a chance to go to the tournament. They could truly turn heads and be hard to beat. They are so fun to watch. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 12 Share Posted January 26 (edited) I'm not disheartened by the team, it's the conference that is so pathetic, some in here have talked about how the B1G is overrated in basketball, but at least they have teams that are ranked, P12 basketball has mostly been a collection of so-so to bad teams with the occasional contender, mostly though it's a league that continually is 2nd best in the west, the WCC and the Mountain West have been better leagues in the last few years, and that should NEVER happen. It's pretty incredibly how far the Bay Area schools have dropped as basketball programs, the Stanford that had great players like Casey Jacobson and the Lopez brothers are distant past, just as Cal used to have some pretty good teams, as much I hated the Romar teams UW used to have some good ones, WSU had a streak of some good teams, all of these programs have massively underachieved what they are capable of. I think one of the reasons why attendance is down here, is that none of these games feel that big, ASU even though they were tied for first with Oregon doesn't feel like a must go to game, it's against a middling team nationally that has had a good start to league. No one other than Arizona and I guess Utah turned up in preseason. Most years in the past 10 or so, we've seen the Pac-12 send around 3-4 teams to the dance, that's not a good number and it makes games feel insignificant. Combine this with prices that are bit too high, and you have the recipe for crowds that aren't great, I also think the presentation of the game is poor, kiss cam, dance cam, all this baloney can go, give me back cheerleaders and the band! Edited January 26 by spartan2785 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudslide No. 13 Share Posted January 26 (edited) Defense is a difference maker. When shots are not falling, and defense is less than robust ... it usually equals a loss. The reverse isn't always true. Witness the Utah/Colorado games. Stong defense is mostly technique and effort. In both games, the Ducks struggled to keep up with UT and COL guards. But the Ducks put both D and O on display last night. They don't always do that. An archetypical view of both sides of D and O comes from the Final 4 games in 2017. OBD crushed Kansas with strong defense and good shooting. Their defense kept them in the very next game with North Carolina, but their shooting was abysmal. NC was lucky to prevail 77-76. The D is THE thing in winning and consistency. And one last thing about last night's game. I couldn't believe my eyes. OBD made 15 of 16 FTs!! Dana must have put in some extra practice time. All in all, the Ducks played a marvelous game ... at least for 3/4s of it. Kudos to 'em. Hoping for more of the same tomorrow afternoon! GO DUCKS! Edited January 26 by Mudslide 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 14 Share Posted January 26 Definitely Mudslide! Defense got stiffer, got a couple easy baskets, get a bit of confidence, and it's amazing what confidence does for the shooting stroke. One thing that is interesting to see is how we are adjusting to not only the implementation of Dante/Bittle, but also how Shelsted is now being targeted on both offense/defense, he's having to adjust, and Altman is now leaning on Barthelemy who certainly has deserved the increase in minutes based on his play. Wish Arizona had boat raced OSU, I think we would be more set up for the upset if that had happened. I expect a high scoring game since the Cats play a pretty uptempo pace. I hope Dante doesn't get too gassed. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graziani93 No. 15 Share Posted January 27 My absolutely favorite play of the entire ASU game was when Perez, all feeling himself after scoring some points, getting down and slapping the floor while guarding Barthelemy. Keeshawn took the opportunity while Perez looked away, pounded the ball to the right, and hit the jumper in his stupid face. Two points! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Rocks No. 16 Share Posted January 27 Biddle was playing really well last year and I expect he will be back to that in the near future. I love his enthusiasm and Dante's smile is the best. He loves being a duck. It's going to be hard for him next year. I am going to enjoy watching him the rest of the season. Go ducks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 17 Share Posted January 27 2 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 18 Share Posted January 27 Hopefully this is AZ's lost weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Rocks No. 19 Share Posted January 27 The PAC-12 could have been a lot stronger this year if USC and UCLA had actually lived up to their expectations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudslide No. 20 Share Posted January 28 After the U of A game, I'd like to harp once again on defense ... but I won't. I'll let Dan do it. Bill Oram: Oregon Ducks’ loss to Arizona leaves Dana Altman searching for answers on defense WWW.OREGONLIVE.COM Any way you slice it, the Ducks missed a big opportunity on Saturday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
