Oregon Ducks underperform again in Maui Invitational loss to No. 12 Houston
Oregon boarded its return flight home from Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon with some unwanted baggage.
The Ducks have an offense that’s unproductive, star players who can’t score, and after losing convincingly for the second time in less than 24 hours, they are now off to the program’s worst start in 13 years.
“How we’ve regressed so far in two weeks just shocks me,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman following Oregon’s 78-49 loss to No. 12 Houston in the third-place game of the men's basketball Maui Invitational in the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
After opening the season 2-0 with a pair of double-digit wins against Texas Southern and SMU, the Ducks have lost three of four to drop to 3-3 for the first time since the 2008-09 squad — former coach Ernie Kent’s penultimate team — opened the season 3-4.
More: Boxscore from Wednesday's game against Houston
Oregon’s three losses all have something in common, as the Ducks started the game cold offensively and despite marked improvement in the second half in terms of shooting efficiency and points scored, they could never recover.
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Against the Cougars (5-1) they made just 6-of-20 attempts from the field in the first half and trailed 41-19 at halftime.
It was reminiscent of the 81-49 loss to BYU on Nov. 16 when Oregon scored just 18 in the first half on 5-of-26 shooting, and the 62-50 loss to Saint Mary’s on Tuesday when it scored 15 in the first half on 7-of-27 shooting.
The Ducks’ only win in the Maui Invitational came in their opener Monday when they beat Division II Chaminade 73-49.
For the second game in a row, senior forward Eric Williams Jr. was the only player who scored in double figures as he had 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Oregon’s other four starters combined for 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
More: Oregon's offense returns to form in win against Chaminade
That included another subpar game for senior point guard Will Richardson, who had two points and made just one of his four field-goal attempts.
After averaging 19 points in the first two games, the all-Pac-12 preseason selection scored just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting in three games in Las Vegas, with all of his points coming in the second half against the Gaels and Cougars following a scoreless game against the Silverswords.
Fellow guards De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young scored two and eight, respectively, Wednesday, with Young coming off the bench for the first time this season to make 3-of-7 from the field.
The lack of production for the Ducks came from all areas on the court during the tournament. They missed on uncontested dunks, uncontested fast breaks, open layups and made just 15 of their 56 3-point attempts, or 27%.
“They’re tentative to shoot the ball,” Altman said. “I did notice that. Especially in the first half we had some ball movement, we had some open looks, and guys just put it on the floor. Again, that’s something we gotta work on. We haven’t told anyone not to shoot, and so, I’m not sure where that’s come from.”
Oregon rallied to shoot 46.2% in the second half against Houston and 39.1% for the game, but it wasn’t nearly enough to catch the Cougars, who shot 51.7% from the field and scored 29 points off the Ducks’ season-high 19 turnovers.
Oregon never got closer than 22 points in the second half and trailed by as many as 34 points twice.
“It’s going to be a long road back the way we’ve buried ourselves here in the last two weeks,” Altman said. “It’s going to take a tremendous effort to try to get back.”
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
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Oregon vs. Montana
7 p.m. Monday at Matthew Knight Arena. TV: Pac-12 Networks. Radio: KUJZ-FM (95.3).
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks underperform again in Maui Invitational loss to No. 12 Houston
