The effort tonight was definitely there, but Oregon started slow and got behind early (again) and fell into a deficit that they were not able to recover from. Stanford had too many weapons for Oregon to ever really be able to mount much of a run. Oregon made a small run to pull within 6 at 27-21 with 5:18 left in the first, but after another Fields field goal before half, Stanford had pushed the lead back to 9 at 39-30. That is closest Oregon would be for the rest of the game.
Landry Fields had a career high 32 points and led Stanford in pretty much every statistical category. Jeremy Green added 25 points as Stanford ran their consecutive winning streak against Oregon at Maples Pavilion to 24 in a row.
Porter had 16 points to lead Oregon in scoring, and Armstead and Jacob chipped in 12 and 11 respectively. Oregon shot better tonight than on Thursday, going 41.7% from the field, 35.7% from three and 73.7% from the line. Unfortunately they were not able to slow down Stanford who shot 52.1% from the field and Green and Fields were a combined 17-29 while the rest of Stanford was 8-19.
Final Thoughts
This loss exposed something in Oregon that I have been thinking about for a while. I want you to name Oregon's best player. Who's the leader on the floor for these guys? Think about it for a minute...
Who did you come up with?
Porter? Armstead? Dunigan? Yeah, I couldn't come up with one either. Now let's look at tonight's stats:
StatSheet.com
In a game that was a much needed win for Oregon a fear I had going in was who would Oregon rely on to lead this team to victory. I'll be honest I was hoping after the Washington weekend that that guy would be Dunigan. It looked like Oregon was making a concerted effort to run the offense through him. He made things easier for everyone around him. Getting the ball down low caused more fouls on the opposing bigs and softened the inside of the defense. Wings and guards had more focus on what was going on down low allowing Oregon's guards to roam and find space on the outside for easier shots in rhythm or wider lanes to the hoop. With Dunigan established down low he was able to get more offensive rebounds and with the other team's big in foul trouble he was able to control the defensive boards better too.
Since the Washington weekend, here are Dunigan's minutes, points and rebounds in each game:
|
Minutes |
Points |
Rebounds |
|
|
vs Oregon St |
20 |
8 |
8 |
|
vs ASU |
16 |
7 |
5 |
|
vs Arizona |
31 |
14 |
3 |
|
at Cal |
27 |
9 |
10 |
|
at Stanford |
14 |
2 |
0 |
Oregon has not been establishing that low post presence that makes life easier for everyone. There is not a leader on this team that when Oregon needs a basket or wants to capture or change the momentum of the game will demand the ball and Dunigan has been conspicuously absent during this five game losing streak; culminating in tonights 14 minute, 2 points, and zero rebound performance. It almost looks like 10 role players out there looking around for someone to follow.
So before we start jumping all over Ernie for this losing streak, let's be candid about the play on the floor. This team is in dire need of a leader on the floor to pull Oregon out of this funk. With the So Cal schools coming to Eugene next week, now would be just as good a time as any to find that leader.
Lastly, I really like this gameflow from statsheet.com so I thought I would share it with you guys.
Go Ducks!