Oregon played to its strengths Sunday night in trying to topple No. 3 Houston.

With a rotation of three 6-foot-11/7-foot centers, a height mismatch, the Ducks commanded the paint, swatted shots and outrebounded the Cougars.

But it still wasn't enough to keep up with Houston's ultra-athletic roster as the Cougars closed out a 66-56 road win at Matthew Knight Arena.

“Pleased with the way we competed. We outrebounded them. We did some good things,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “A lot to work on, but we showed our inability to handle the ball and that was a big, big part of it.”

The undefeated Cougars (5-0) connected on 11 of 22 3-pointer while the Ducks (2-2) hit just 3 of 22, which was enough to offset their 37-28 rebounding advantage and 8 blocked shots.

Center N'Faly Dante played well in the loss with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.

“Without him tonight it would have been tough,” Altman said. “He’s played awfully hard — awfully well throughout the year. He’s practiced the best. It’s not even close. For those people who say ‘practice is not important,’ well he’s a perfect example. A lot of our guys could pick up things from him.”

Will Richardson had 13 points but also 7 turnovers with only 2 assists.

Steals were common on Oregon inbounds plays where it seemed like nobody in a yellow jersey could get open. Houston had a clear advantage in athleticism and flew all around the court to make the already struggling Ducks offense even more flustered.

No team had scored more than 55 on Houston. Oregon’s 56 is the new high, but the end result was the same. Another victory for the Cougs and a quick second loss on the season for the Ducks.

Altman continued with the game plan of having two bigs on the floor at all times to begin the second half. Bittle and Dante made the Cougars work extra hard for close-range buckets and the Cougars had some difficulty finding any open looks.

But Oregon’s injury problems hit rock bottom after Keeshawn Barthelemy left the game and returned wearing a boot on his left foot. Altman’s squad was already thin, especially at the guard position.

Barthelemy’s injury slimmed down Altman's rotation to 7 men and Richardson played all 40 minutes.

“Just don't have many guards,” Altman said. “I don’t like seeing [Barthelemy] in a boot. We have Jermaine out, Brennan out, and now Keeshawn will be out for a little bit.”

Marcus Sasser led Houston with 16 points, and the Cougars showed why they are the No. 3 ranked team with their dominant performance on Sunday.

Oregon will hope to get healthy soon while improving in many categories.

The next game is another matchup against an undefeated opponent. No. 25 Connecticut comes to Portland for the Phil Knight Invitational and Altman will have his work cut out for him on this tough upcoming stretch.