Oregon MBB recap: Lack of three-point shooting dooms Ducks
This game was right there for the taking and an upset over No. 3 Houston was a real possibility. But Oregon never could find its three-point shooting prowess and the Cougars made them pay.
Houston came out with a 66-56 victory inside Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon coach Dana Altman is going to look at the stat sheet and his eyes are going directly to the three-point shooting line where his team was a dismal 3-of-22 from beyond the arc.
Even though they couldn’t find its range and seemingly nothing was going right, the Ducks never gave up and played the entire 40 minutes. They could have rolled over and called it a night with just under seven minutes left with the Cougars up 56-44, but the Ducks were able to manufacture a 12-2 run and with just 2:35 remaining, Oregon was down 60-54 and had the ball.
But a missed three and a made three for Houston on the other end sealed Oregon’s fate and the Ducks suffered their second loss on the season.
Final Score: Houston 66, Oregon 56
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
Keys to the game
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Oregon needs to desperately find its three-point shooting or it will be a long season. The Ducks lost by 10 to the No. 3 team in the nation and if they had just hit a few more threes, the outcome would have been drastically different. But 3-of-22 from behind the arc won’t get it done.
Oregon managed to keep itself in the game with a heroic effort on the glass. The Ducks actually out-rebounded the Cougars 37-28, including 15 on the offensive end that led to 15 second-chance points.
This game was close in the first half until the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to make it 27-15. The Ducks never really recovered from that initial outburst from Kelvin Sampson’s team.
Injuries continue to hamper the Ducks as Keeshawn Barthelemy went down with an ankle injury early in the second half and never returned.
Oregon found itself needing to foul late in the game, but they committed their first foul of the second half with just under three minutes left to play. By then, it was too late to start accumulating fouls to send the Cougars to the line.
Stats to know
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
N’Faly Dante led the Ducks with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Will Richardson added 12 points and five rebounds, but the fifth-year senior point guard had just two assists to go with seven turnovers.
As a team, Oregon turned the ball over 16 times.
The Ducks were 3-of-22 from the three-point line (13.6 percent), while Houston was 11-of-22 from downtown. It doesn’t take a math major to see that was the difference in the game and then some.
Freshman Terrence Arceneaux was the one Houston Cougar that was the thorn in the Ducks’ side all night long. He scored 15 points, including a personal 8-0 run at one point.
What's next?
Joseph Weiser-USA TODAY Sports
The Ducks travel to Portland to open the PK85 Invitational to battle UConn on Thanksgiving night (Nov. 24) at 5 pm on ESPN2.
