University of Oregon
12-4, 2-1
Arizona State
8-8, 0-3
Saved by the Bell
01/11/15 | Men's Basketball
EUGENE – Fueled by the block factory that is Jordan Bell, the Oregon men's basketball team sneaked past Arizona State 59-56 on Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena.
Block Factory: Bell's eight blocks against Arizona State tied the single-game school record. The equaled mark was last set by Blair Rasmussen versus Davidson on Dec. 27, 1984. The Long Beach, Calif., product's 59 blocks also broke UO's single-season blocks record, previously 51 by Tony Woods (2012), with at least 16 games remaining. He also tied Washington's Robert Upshaw for the most blocks in a single game this season in the Pac-12.
How It Happened: With Oregon (12-4, 2-1 Pac-12) trailing 55-53 with 2:26 left to play, back-to-back baskets from Bell followed by a pair of free throws from Elgin Cook helped the Ducks close out its seven-game homestand with a win.
Oregon struggled in the first half, as Arizona State (8-8, 0-3) held the Ducks scoreless for 8:26 minutes before Joseph Young drilled a three from the left side to spark the UO offense. Young's 3-pointer put the Ducks within 20-14 with 4:44 to play in the first half.
Oregon then went on a 7-0 run after Dwayne Benjamin tipped in a missed long ball from Young with 2:44 left in the half. UO finished out the half with an 11-3 run, and took a 25-23 lead as both teams struggled in the first half.
The second half proved to be no different as both teams battled and forth and the lead changed 10 separate times.
The Sun Devils played short-handed in the waning minutes of the game with both Eric Jacobsen and Savon Goodman on the bench after picking up their fourth foul. Shaquielle McKissic finished the day with 18 points on 4-of-10 shooting and 9-of-14 from the line to lead ASU.
Who Stood Out: Young led the Ducks with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Cook who finished with 14 points, 10 of which came in the second half, went 4-of-6 from the floor with four rebounds and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
By the Numbers: Oregon now moves to 9-0 when leading at the half... The Ducks shot 50 percent as a team (23-of-46), and moves to 12-0 when outshooting their opponents... UO is also now 12-1 against opponents when they dish out more assists... Bell's eight blocks also set a new MKA record.
Quotable: “My mindset is to not allow any lay-ups. Even if I don't block it I try to make them throw it up super high and make them miss. I know our offense doesn't really come through me, so I try to find my role on this team.” – Bell
“A lot of conference games come to just grinding them out, coming down to one or two possessions. We were lucky, we got out rebounded, had a couple bad turnovers, gave up a few easy baskets. We had nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Our defense was really solid, guys were flying around.” – UO coach Dana Altman
Up Next: The Ducks will now head north for their first true road games against the Washington schools. UO will first face Washington State on Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks before heading west to take on the Huskies of Washington on Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
