Oregon dominates in big win over No. 9 Arizona
Dana Altman made two changes to the starting lineup ahead of the matchup against No. 9 Arizona. The team needed a spark after a rough stretch of games to start the new year. While the refreshed lineup certainly helped bring back the missing energy in Matthew Knight Arena, it too brought back the identity of what Oregon basketball tends to be.
Defense, rebounds, and scoring. In that order. The Ducks did just about everything right in order to pull off one of the most impressive upsets in school history. Though it took all 40 minutes of action to withstand Arizona, the 87-68 upset win for the Ducks (10-8, 4-3 Pac-12), is the type of performance that can completely change the season.
The new starting lineup worked to a tee, with all but one ending in double-digit scoring. Jermaine Couisnard made his first start as a Duck and quickly became the new go-to guy. He led the team with 27 points while shooting 6 of 9 from deep.
N’Faly Dante was given the task of matching up with the conference’s leading rebounder, Oumar Ballo. Ballo may have had the first blow, with a quick dunk just seven seconds into the game, but it was Dante who got the last laugh. He had one of Oregon’s two unbelievable highlight reel plays, with a steal at halfcourt turned into an unreal poster slam on the other end. Along with outscoring Ballo, Dante helped contribute to the Ducks’ plus-10 rebound advantage.
Oregon came into the game with four matchups against then-ranked opponents this year. The record looks bad on paper, having won none of them, but in those games, only one was decided by more than 10 points — even with the many injuries.
Altman’s group plays up to standard when given a tough task. Saturday’s game was no different. It took two career-high types of performances for the Ducks just to stay with the high-scoring Wildcats.
Dante seemingly scored every time he got the ball in the paint. So much so, Couisnard tried to launch the ball to him while at half court. To everyone in the arena's surprise, the heave found its way into the net for one of the craziest 3-point shots you will ever see. Couisnard and Dante combined for 27 of the team’s 43 first-half points. After scoring 41 points total a little over a week ago, the Ducks looked like a new team sitting on a 6-point halftime lead.
Courtney Ramey eliminated the deficit quickly in the second half with two 3-pointers. Oregon answered with a 10-point run powered by threes from Nate Bittle and Will Richardson. Couisnard re-joined the party with his fourth three-pointer of the night, propelling the lead to 12.
The conference’s leading scorer, Azuolas Tubelis, was held to 14, while the rest of his team too struggled to find a basket. The Wildcats (15-2, 4-3 Pac-12) were held without a field goal for five minutes until Tubelis finally converted halfway into the second half.
On the other end, Oregon kept the pressure and kept converting thanks to the play from Couisnard and Dante. The duo each had over 20 points to keep the Wildcats from having any chance of coming back.
The win keeps things interesting for the Ducks as they now have the same conference record as the Wildcats with 13 games left in the regular season. With the roster nearly at full health, Oregon has a chance to go on a run. The Ducks travel to California next week for meetings with Cal and Stanford. The two schools have a combined 8 wins this year and could easily be the start of a new Oregon win streak.