Monday, November 2
Eugene, Ore.
7 p.m. PT
University of Oregon
1-0,0-0Big Ten
87
vs
69
Montana
0-1,0-0Big Sky
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | 31 | 38 | 69 |
| Oregon | 40 | 47 | 87 |
Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
11/02/26 | Men's Basketball
The Oregon men's basketball team used its size and athleticism to take care of business against Montana in Monday's regular-season opener.
EUGENE, Ore. — The Ducks and their fans had a rollicking good time Monday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Except for a few tense moments in each half, the Oregon men's basketball team put on a show in its regular-season opener, beating Montana, 87-69. The Ducks had enough breakaway dunks to fill an extended highlight reel, as they asserted their dominance athletically and in the post.
A loss to Seattle in the first of Oregon's three exhibition games felt like a long time ago by Monday, when a playing rotation featuring 10 newcomers felt like a cohesive unit for long stretches.
"Our progress from the Seattle game to the Utah game to Stanford and now, you've seen us take little steps," said Andrew Meadow, one of five Ducks to score in double figures Monday. "And then there's still some stuff that we can clean up from tonight to move on to Friday."
Montana's smaller rotation relied on the three-point shot — the Grizzlies took 30 among their 58 field-goal attempts, and used hot streaks from behind the arc to take the lead in the opening minutes and then rally to briefly tie the game in the second half. But Oregon had an advantage of 54-14 on points in the paint, won the rebounding battle, 37-26, and had 21 assists against just nine turnovers.
"That was going to be one of our biggest strengths coming into this game, just because of the size difference, that we felt like we could win the battle in the paint," UO interim coach Tony Stubblefield said. "And we were able to do that tonight. We were able to do it on the boards as well. But at the same time, giving up 13 threes on the other end, they had some advantages themselves with the quickness on the perimeter that they created from an offensive standpoint."
Oregon didn't give away anything in terms of athleticism, though, with Sean Stewart, Tyrone Riley IV, Pharaoh Compton and Meadow all producing highlight-reel dunks over the course of the evening.
"I do think it provides some energy and gets our guys going, when you see them make some of the plays that they made," Stubblefield said. "Guys get really enthused, and I think that picks up their defensive intensity (too). I think they really feed off of that."
Riley scored 17 to lead the Ducks on Monday, Malique Ewin matched Meadow's 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Fred Payne scored 12 and Wei Lin added 10 off the bench. Taylor Bol Bowen contributed six points with five rebounds and four assists.
How It Happened: Montana finished the game 13-of-30 from three-point range, and began it by making four straight attempts from behind the arc. That got the Grizzlies out to a 12-4 lead, but Oregon responded with a 21-2 run and led 29-18 before Montana finally made its fifth three-pointer of the night.
"Montana presents some problems matchup-wise for us because they can put four or five guards out there on the floor, and they can really spread the floor and penetrate and kick for three," Stubblefield said. "So I think our guys did a better job of getting adjusted to that and really stuck with it."
After the Grizzlies hit a couple more threes to close within 29-26, the Ducks answered with eight in a row. They took a 40-31 lead into halftime.
Early in the second half, Meadow threw down an alley-oop from Bol Bowen, and moments later Meadow hit a three for a 52-38 lead. It was 55-43 when Montana made its last surge, a 14-2 run to tie the game, 57-57. The Grizzlies had two three-pointers during that run, but made just two more the rest of the game.
"They gave us their best shot," Meadow said. "They had a lot of energy. We knew that they weren't gonna just come in here and give up. But I thought we did a really good job of, when they did make that run, of just slowing down, taking a little pause and just resetting and going to the next play and then building our own run."
Payne hit a jumper to put the Ducks back in front, and Oregon was off and running again. Riley had a thunderous dunk during a 10-0 run that made it 72-59, and the Ducks allowed only two field goals over the final 10:40 to continue pulling away.
Up Next: The Ducks host Eastern Washington on Friday (3 p.m., B1G+).
Except for a few tense moments in each half, the Oregon men's basketball team put on a show in its regular-season opener, beating Montana, 87-69. The Ducks had enough breakaway dunks to fill an extended highlight reel, as they asserted their dominance athletically and in the post.
A loss to Seattle in the first of Oregon's three exhibition games felt like a long time ago by Monday, when a playing rotation featuring 10 newcomers felt like a cohesive unit for long stretches.
"Our progress from the Seattle game to the Utah game to Stanford and now, you've seen us take little steps," said Andrew Meadow, one of five Ducks to score in double figures Monday. "And then there's still some stuff that we can clean up from tonight to move on to Friday."
Montana's smaller rotation relied on the three-point shot — the Grizzlies took 30 among their 58 field-goal attempts, and used hot streaks from behind the arc to take the lead in the opening minutes and then rally to briefly tie the game in the second half. But Oregon had an advantage of 54-14 on points in the paint, won the rebounding battle, 37-26, and had 21 assists against just nine turnovers.
"That was going to be one of our biggest strengths coming into this game, just because of the size difference, that we felt like we could win the battle in the paint," UO interim coach Tony Stubblefield said. "And we were able to do that tonight. We were able to do it on the boards as well. But at the same time, giving up 13 threes on the other end, they had some advantages themselves with the quickness on the perimeter that they created from an offensive standpoint."
Oregon didn't give away anything in terms of athleticism, though, with Sean Stewart, Tyrone Riley IV, Pharaoh Compton and Meadow all producing highlight-reel dunks over the course of the evening.
"I do think it provides some energy and gets our guys going, when you see them make some of the plays that they made," Stubblefield said. "Guys get really enthused, and I think that picks up their defensive intensity (too). I think they really feed off of that."
Riley scored 17 to lead the Ducks on Monday, Malique Ewin matched Meadow's 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Fred Payne scored 12 and Wei Lin added 10 off the bench. Taylor Bol Bowen contributed six points with five rebounds and four assists.
How It Happened: Montana finished the game 13-of-30 from three-point range, and began it by making four straight attempts from behind the arc. That got the Grizzlies out to a 12-4 lead, but Oregon responded with a 21-2 run and led 29-18 before Montana finally made its fifth three-pointer of the night.
"Montana presents some problems matchup-wise for us because they can put four or five guards out there on the floor, and they can really spread the floor and penetrate and kick for three," Stubblefield said. "So I think our guys did a better job of getting adjusted to that and really stuck with it."
After the Grizzlies hit a couple more threes to close within 29-26, the Ducks answered with eight in a row. They took a 40-31 lead into halftime.
Early in the second half, Meadow threw down an alley-oop from Bol Bowen, and moments later Meadow hit a three for a 52-38 lead. It was 55-43 when Montana made its last surge, a 14-2 run to tie the game, 57-57. The Grizzlies had two three-pointers during that run, but made just two more the rest of the game.
"They gave us their best shot," Meadow said. "They had a lot of energy. We knew that they weren't gonna just come in here and give up. But I thought we did a really good job of, when they did make that run, of just slowing down, taking a little pause and just resetting and going to the next play and then building our own run."
Payne hit a jumper to put the Ducks back in front, and Oregon was off and running again. Riley had a thunderous dunk during a 10-0 run that made it 72-59, and the Ducks allowed only two field goals over the final 10:40 to continue pulling away.
Up Next: The Ducks host Eastern Washington on Friday (3 p.m., B1G+).
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballTeam Stats
Mont
Oregon
FG%
.379
.603
3FG%
.433
.455
FT%
.857
.632
RB
26
37
TO
10
9
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Tuesday, November 03
Tuesday, November 03
Tuesday, November 03
Friday, October 30
