Oregon Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils Trounce The Ducks, 90-73

In spite of having all scholarship players available to play - and no apparent injuries in this contest - the Oregon Ducks offensive woes continued in tonight’s loss in Eugene. Two minutes into the game, Oregon was ahead 6-5, and then lost the lead for good amidst poor shooting and poor defending.

It did not help that the three-ball was dropping for the Sun Devils, who put in eight from beyond the arc in the first half alone.

Will Richardson hit three in a row from downtown late in the first half, but that was not enough to overcome a dismal offensive effort, as the Ducks only scored 38% of their shots.

ASU was also controlling the paint on both sides of the court, out-rebounding the Ducks and taking advantage of Oregon’s consistent poor defending in the paint.

The Sun Devils built a 17-point cushion by the half, and would increase that to a 29-point advantage by midway in the second half, 73-44. Meanwhile, Oregon was not helping themselves by missing a number of layups, leaving a significant number of points on the floor that they were going to need if the Ducks were to mount a comeback. ASU was more successful in their defense of the paint:

As well as constantly taking advantage of Oregon’s defensive miscues:

Oregon put together a run that closed to within 18 at the 8:00 mark, but that turned out to be too little, too late.

The Sun Devils shot well in this game ending with a 52% FG rate, including going 13-29 from beyond the arc. ASU limited Oregon to 42% shooting on the game. The Ducks really needed to win the battle for the boards tonight, and that did not happen as they went 29-37 on the glass. Will Richardson was the Ducks scoring leader with 16 points, followed by N’Faly Dante with 14. ASU had four players that scored double-digits, lead by Desmond Cambridge Jr. with 21. Oregon also regressed in ball movement, ending the night with 12 assists to ASU’s 20.

This is what Dana Altman had to say after the game (courtesy of GoDucks):

At this point, it’s fair to speculate that Oregon is probably going to fall short of their 20-game seasonal win streak, and that would be the first time in the Dana Altman era that the Ducks have not won at least 20 games on the season. Short of a miracle turnaround, that’s difficult to imagine.

The Oregon Ducks host the Arizona Wildcats in Eugene on Saturday, 1/14/23, at 3:00 pm PT. ESPN will be carrying that game.