Oregon men's basketball holds on late to get season sweep of Washington: How it happened
The Ducks dominance over the Huskies continued Thursday night — but not before they nearly gave the game away.
Oregon lost almost all of its 20-point second half lead only to hold off Washington in the final minutes to win 85-80 in a Pac-12 men’s basketball game in front of 7,584 at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks (16-7, 8-4 Pac-12) led 66-46 with 10 minutes, 25 seconds to play but the Huskies followed with a 26-7 run to make it 73-72 with 3:38 left.
Washington's run, which ended with 12 straight points, was sparked by its defense as the Huskies harassed the Ducks with a full-court press that led to six turnovers.
“I have all six of them etched in my mind,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “… On Feb. 8, we should be able to handle the press a lot better than that.”
Even so, the Ducks never gave up the lead — which it held for the game’s final 35:29 — but Washington did stay within at least two shots in the final minutes.
Despite making just 1-of-11 shots from the field in the final 8:32, Oregon held on by scoring 10 of its final 12 points from the free-throw line.
With the win, the Ducks completed the season sweep of the Huskies (12-11, 4-8) and improved to 14-3 against Washington since 2015.
“I’m proud of the guys for winning the game,” Altman said. “We were fortunate to get free throws down the stretch so we did what we had to do to win the game, which is really important.”
Jermaine Couisnard ties his season high to lead Ducks
Guard Jermaine Couisnard tied his season-high with 27 points to lead Oregon. He was coming off a six-point performance in the loss to UCLA last Saturday — his lowest point total in seven weeks and 13 games.
Couisnard was 7-for-17 from the field, 4-of-9 from 3-point range and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line — a season high for both free-throw makes and attempts.
He also had five assists and four of the Ducks' nine steals — two off the team's season high.
Six of those steals came in the first half as Oregon scored 17 off 10 Washington turnovers en route to a 40-34 lead at the break.
The Huskies finished with 15 turnovers overall that led to 21 points for the Ducks.
“I feel like that’s our strength,” Couisnard said. “Getting a lot of deflections and making teams turn the ball over. That just gives us the ability to run and play our game.”
Center N’Faly Dante also had 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Forward Kwame Evans Jr. added 15 points and guard Jadrian Tracey scored 11.
Point guard Jackson Shelstad had a rough night shooting, as he went 1-for-9 from the field. But the freshman contributed with seven rebounds and six assists.
The Huskies were led by point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who had 16 points and seven assists.
Forward Keion Brooks Jr., the Pac-12’s leading scorer at 21.23 points per game, had just five points in the first half on 1-of-4 shooting and finished with 15 points.
Nate Bittle misses another game
Oregon was without center Nate Bittle for the third straight game due to an undisclosed illness. The junior was in uniform for pregame warmups but was absent from the bench once the game began.
Bittle didn’t play last weekend on the trip to Los Angeles and also missed 15 games this season due to a wrist injury that required surgery.
Bittle had been practicing this week, Altman said, "but just didn’t feel well today.”
What's next for the Ducks
Oregon will host Washington State at 2 p.m. Saturday in Matthew Knight Arena in a showdown between two teams tied for second place in the conference standings and one game behind Arizona.
The Cougars (17-6, 8-4) beat Oregon State 64-58 Thursday in Corvallis.
“Every single game is important to us," Dante said. "Our mindset is just come out and play our game. We have to take care of business at home.”
Saturday's game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Pac-12 men's basketball: Oregon Ducks sweep Washington Huskies
