Written Story by Griffin Bowes
After a shaky start to the season, Oregon (13-3) has caught fire at the right time. With tonight’s 80-73 win over California (6-11), they are now a perfect 5-0 in conference play. With Arizona St’s loss to Washington on Thursday, the Ducks are now in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12. Much of Oregon’s early struggles could be attributed to poor health, which is becoming less and less of a factor with each passing game. Star center N’Faly Dante made his return tonight, scoring 8 points during 17 minutes of playing time. Despite not starting, his playing time was distributed relatively evenly throughout the game, and one can expect his impact to slowly increase over the remainder of the season.
While some looked at Cal’s performance this season and predicted an easy win for the Ducks, it was never going to be a runaway victory. Positioned in between last week’s road trip to Washington and next week’s trip to the Rockies, this game served as a trap. Early on, the teams exchanged buckets, and the score was tied at 14. Then Cal got hot from the field, and slowly started to pull away. A 8-0 run put them ahead 22-14, and after a couple of smaller runs, they were ahead by 18 points late in the first half.
All of a sudden, a switch flipped within the team, and they stormed back. Oregon went on a 16-2 run to end the half, primarily engineered by senior guard Jermaine Couisnard, who had three 3-pointers during that stretch. One of those threes came with 7 seconds remaining in the half, and it gave Oregon some extra momentum as they headed into the locker room.
Like in the first half, both teams played competitively to start the second. It looked as if the game was going to be a nailbiter, but then Oregon slowly pulled away until they had a couple possession lead. Cal would go on short runs and Oregon would respond, but it can be argued that the Ducks were in firm control of the entire second half. Finally, with just over 4 minutes left, Oregon initiated a 6-0 run that would put them up 9 with 2:38 remaining. Cousinard finished the game with a team-high 18 points, shooting 5 for 8 from 3. Both Jackson Shelstad and Jadrian Tracey also had strong performances, each with at least 12 points and 4 rebounds.
The future appears to be very bright for Oregon, as they are hitting a stride, and the Pac-12 is a relatively weak conference in men’s basketball (especially with top-10 Arizona losing today). The Ducks are in the driver’s seat for the regular season conference title, and will likely be a top seed in the conference tournament. However, they need to keep their heads down and stay focused, because their remaining schedule contains some tough outs. Next Thursday’s road test against 11-5 Colorado could be one, especially considering that the Buffs are perfect at home this year. Please stay tuned for more Oregon MBB content here on KWVA 88.1.
Audio Story by Cuinn Huber