University of Oregon
11-3, 1-0
Oregon State
9-4, 0-1
Oregon Men Win Sixth Straight, Beating OSU To Open Pac-12 Play
01/04/15 | Men's Basketball
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
EUGENE, Ore. — The Pac-12's most prolific offense held serve against the conference's stingiest defense, as the Oregon men's basketball team outpaced visiting Oregon State to win 71-59 before 7,314 in Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday evening.
How It Happened: Oregon entered the night as the Pac-12's highest scoring offense at 79.4 points per game, while the Beavers had allowed opponents to shoot just .355, best in the conference. Offense ruled the day, as the Ducks shot .489 as a team, limited OSU to .352 shooting and survived a lull late in the first half to otherwise control the game.
The Ducks forced the Beavers into nine straight misses to open the game, building a 10-0 lead capped by a resounding alley-oop dunk from Dillon Brooks to Jordan Bell. Oregon's lead reached 20-9, at which point OSU had just two field goals but stayed in the game thanks to foul shooting. Oregon State finally found some momentum late in the half, and used a 9-2 run to close the gap. Joseph Young's jumper just before halftime broke a tie and gave Oregon a 29-27 lead at the break.
There was no carryover to the UO cold streak. Young made a trio of three-pointers early in the second half to put the Ducks up 44-35, and baskets on three straight Oregon possessions make it 56-39. The Beavers briefly got back within single digits just past the midway point of the half, but Oregon pulled away again to clinch the victory.
Who Stood Out: Young carried the Ducks most of the way, finishing with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting that included 5-of-6 from three-point range. Elgin Cook added 18 points and nine rebounds, and Brooks scored 10. Bell contributed eight points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
What It Means: The Ducks improved to 11-3 overall, winning their sixth straight and eighth in the last nine. Oregon won its third straight in this 343rd edition of the Civil War, and opened Pac-12 Conference play with a victory.
Quotable: "First day of conference, my last 18, it's pretty fun. ... I sent (the freshmen) an early text, 'Hey, it's a new season.' We felt energized. It's just a different feeling, a different season." — Young
"The game is about runs, and when Oregon State started to get their run, we stayed together. We weren't doing that earlier in the season." — Young
"Ten or 12 offensive and defensive possessions I thought were really good, and then we had probably the same amount on the other end of the spectrum. If we can clean those up, we have a chance to be a heck of a ball club. ... We've got to clean it up with Arizona coming in here." — UO coach Dana Altman
"Joe did a great job. He was the difference in the game, there's no doubt about it." — Altman
Odds and Ends: Bell had three blocked shots negated by fouls on teammates a fraction of a second before the block. The freshman's 47 blocked shots already are second in UO single-season history, four off the record. ... Jalil Abdul-Bassit returned to action for the Ducks after not suiting up for the nonconference finale against UC Irvine. ... Bell was close to triple-double pace at halftime, when he had six points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
Up Next: The Ducks host the Pac-12's top-ranked team, No. 8 Arizona, in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday (7:30 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks).
