Oregon 80, Kansas State 77 (OT)

by David Piper on Nov 29, 2007 9:38 PM PST in Oregon Ducks Basketball

Scrubs is on tonight, so I need to make this relatively brief.

Holy crap, what a game!

Oregon survived a heavyweight bout at Kansas State. The teams traded blows all game long, and in the end, Oregon was left standing. Michael Beasley was everything that was advertised, but Maarty Leunen and Joevan Catron both played phenomenal games. I just found myself praying that we didn't go into double OT, as there was no way we were going to stop Beasley after Maarty and Joevan fouled out.

K-State had all the hot shooting early, but Oregon's defense showed up when it was really needed. The match up zone neutralized Beasley, and the Wildcats settled for bricking threes left and right, allowing the Ducks to catch up from a double digit lead. Oregon was cold in the first half, and only Bryce Taylor and Maarty Leunen hitting a couple of timely shots from outside kept Oregon in the game. Nothing was happening inside for the Ducks.

But of all players to step up in the second half, it was Joevan freaking Catron. If there was one thing that worried me about this game, it was that Malik Hairston had exactly zero points after halftime? But Joevan stepped up, scoring all 15 of his points after halftime. He also had a cool eight rebounds. And there was just something about his attitude--he WANTED to be the man. Of all the guys on the team, Catron may just have been the most important player for the Ducks tonight. It also helped that we stopped letting KSU dominate the boards. Rebounding had been another concern--but the Ducks lost the battle on the boards by only one in this game. Maarty was nothing short of phenomenal. Oh, and Tajuan hit some big shots late in OT as well.

This game answers a lot of questions for us. Where is the defense? It showed up in a big way tonight. How would the Ducks respond to losing the St. Mary's game? By going into the house of a ranked team, taking their best shot, and pulling out a gutty overtime win. How would we deal with a team that can pound it inside? Good enough to win. And we pulled out the marquee non-conference road win that every team needs to impress the tournament committee. A good night on all counts.

If there are any concerns, they are the play of Malik in the second half. But Bryce, Maarty, Joevan, and Tajuan got the job done. Over a week to rest before Pape Jam and Utah. Time to get another good OOC win.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave

Tweet Comment 5 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Couldn't have said it better

with the question answering point. I now can pinpoint our problems with this team. They're not as glaring as one would think. Getting to the boards, and shooting hot early are two of just a few. Elsewhere, minimizing downtime points for other teams. That's where we ran into trouble with St. Mary's.

And possibly most importantly in the long run, well actually two things, foul trouble is one. However, my top fault of us is our CHARITY STRIPE SHOOTING. We gotta pick that up or we'll end up like Duke circa 2002-2003 (? Do I have the years right?)

by qrsouther on Nov 29, 2007 9:51 PM PST reply actions

PLEASE PRACTICE FREE THROWS....

Great, gutty win. Those FT's are going to haunt us big time though if we don't improve. We were lucky that KSU made some mistakes in OT that bailed us out, but we probably won't get those breaks in the Pac-10. The team did show great poise despite trailing most the game in a hostile environment. Every time we closed the gap, KSU quickly widened the lead back to 5, 6, 7pts. But great teams have the ability to hang around and deliver the knockout blow in the clutch. The answer to the question about who fills AB's shoes late in games seems to be...TP and Bryce. I agree that it's concerning that Malik didn't assert himself late in the game. He reminds me of Freddie where you are just waiting for that talent to explode. It did for Freddie eventually and time will tell for Malik. Like Freddie's team with the Lukes, maybe Malik's team will go as far as our sophmores can carry us (TP and Joevan). We've probably seen the best there is for Bryce and Maarty, but the big wildcard will be in Malik can kick it into that next gear. Hopefully he puts on a show at the Rose Garden next weekend. GO DUCKS!!!

by jteubs on Nov 29, 2007 10:53 PM PST reply actions

its really concerning

I keep telling myself that this team shoots the ball too well and the free throws will eventually pick up. But how many games has it been now?

Its really concerning. Our inability to shoot FTs almost beat us.

by David Piper on Nov 30, 2007 6:31 AM PST up reply actions

Malik

I'm a huge fan of Malik Hairston. None of my Duck loving friends really like him because of the "Carmello-ize" comment and subsequent underperforming, but I've always loved his gritty style of play.

As noted above, games like this make me question his "clutchness," though. He just disappeared last night, and it's certainly not the first time. When he's on, like down the stretch in last year's tourney, he is an absolute marvel to watch; but when he plays with no confidence on offense it's quite disheartening. I think that we were all looking for him to take over games like last night's, but I'm left wondering about that.

Great game, but I was a little disappointed by my boy Malik. I'm looking for him to step up as the year progresses.

by dp @ Addicted To Quack on Nov 30, 2007 10:18 AM PST reply actions