Eugene, Ore. – It happened again. The Oregon Duck men’s basketball team got its doors blown off in a game that could have gone a long way in boosting its resume for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Ducks squandered yet another chance and look more and more like a team bound for the NIT at best.
The Oregon Ducks were blown out on the road at Colorado eight days ago 61-41. Dana Altman apologized after the game for how poorly the staff prepared the team and how poorly the team played. He’ll have to do the same Thursday night at home as the Oregon Ducks were beaten by Arizona State 90-73. The Ducks trailed by nearly 20 points 10 minutes into the game and trailed by 20 with eight minutes to play in the game. For nearly the entire game, the Ducks were behind big.
Oregon falls to 9-8 on the year and 3-3 in Pac-12 play. They are now down multiple games to the teams in the top four of the Pac-12 standings, making their chances at getting a first-round by in the Pac-12 Tournament very difficult.
The Sun Devils’ season-high for 3-pointers was 14 against San Diego in December going into Thursday night and they challenged that number against the Ducks. ASU made 13 against the Ducks, shooting an impressive 46 percent on threes. When the Sun Devils weren’t making impressive 3-pointers, they were attacking the rim and getting basket after basket right at the hoop. Arizona State finished the game by scoring 36 points in the paint.
Offensively not much was going well for Oregon either. The Ducks shot 41 percent from the floor, and nearly half their points came from just two players: seniors Will Richardson and N’Faly Dante. Take away Richardson’s 4-of-8 shooting on 3-pointers, and Oregon shot just 4-of-15 from three. Richardson finished the game with 16 points and three assists, while Dante finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Arizona State was led by senior guard Desmond Cambridge’s 19 points. DJ Horne made five 3-pointers and finished the game with 15 points. Four other Sun Devils scored nine or more points in the game.
Oregon opened the game by scoring on its first three possessions of the game, two baskets coming from N’Faly Dante. The Ducks led 6-5 three minutes into the game. The Sun Devils regained their lead with an offensive-rebound dunk, and then, on the next possession, they hit a 3-pointer. Oregon trailed 10-6 with 15:48 to play in half.
Oregon traded 2-pointers by the Ducks for Arizona State 3-pointers, as the Sun Devils made three in four minutes. The Ducks found themselves trailing 22-12. After a missed 3-pointer by Oregon, the Sun Devils got down the court quickly and hit their fifth 3-pointer in the first eight minutes of the game, prompting a timeout by Oregon head coach Dana Altman.
Arizona State continued its torrid pace shooting the basketball and punished Oregon for poor defense. The Sun Devils grew their lead to as many as 24 points with four minutes to play in half.
Will Richardson made three straight 3-pointers to give the Ducks a boost in the final minutes of the half. N’faly Dante missed a hook shot after an Oregon steal, and ASU answered with a pull-up jumper to go back up 17 at the half.
kind of start the Ducks wanted. Arizona State opened the second half on a 14-5 run to expand its lead from 17 to 25 in less than four minutes time.
Oregon couldn’t get much closer at the 10-minute mark of the second half, trailing the Sun Devils 73-46 after freshman Kel’el Ware made two free throws out of a timeout. The Ducks trailed by 19 with four minutes to go in the game.
