Ducks Dominate Perimeter in 78-66 Win Against Houston

Friday, November 22

Eugene, OR

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

5-0,0-0Pac-12

Houston

2-2,0-0AAC

Houston

Oregon

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

Ducks Dominate Perimeter in 78-66 Win Against Houston

11/22/19 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Oregon-Houston Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon's stifling perimeter defense held Houston to 2-of-20 shooting from three-point range as the 11th-ranked Ducks defeated the Cougars 78-66 in front of 8,095 Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

Anthony Mathis led the Ducks (5-0) with 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Payton Pritchard added 16 points and five assists.
Oregon was 10-for-21 from three-point range.

How it Happened: After Houston (2-2) closed to within three points, 34-31, early in the second half, Oregon went on an 11-4 run to take a 45-35 lead with 15:47 to play. The Cougars had one last run to pull within six, 47-41, with 11:27 to play.

A three-pointer by Mathis sparked a quick 9-0 run for the Ducks, pushing the lead to 56-41 with 10:13 remaining. After that, Oregon led by double digits for the remainder of the game.

"We had a really good performance, I thought we moved the ball, 17 assists, 26 baskets," said Oregon head coach Dana Altman, who won his 650th career game as a Division I head coach. "Francis (Okoro) finished some tough ones inside, Anthony (Mathis) again shot it really well."

In the first half, Oregon went cold from the field midway through the period and Houston took advantage with a 9-0 run to push its lead to 22-14 with 5:22 remaining. The Ducks stormed back with a 10-0 run that featured five points from Chris Duarte to lead 24-22 with 3:09 left in the half.

Francis Okoro closed out the frame with a difficult drive to the bucket where he got fouled on the play. Okoro converted the three-point play to give the Ducks a 32-27 halftime lead.
The Ducks were hot from three in the first half, hitting 6-of-12 from downtown, while Houston hit just 1-of-11 attempts.

Who Stood Out: Francis Okoro scored a career-high 12 points. Will Richardson added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting.

Notable: With 16 points tonight, Pritchard passed Joseph Young (1,384 points/2013-15) and Luke Ridnour (1,399/2000-03) to move into 16th in UO career scoring with 1,400 points.

Quotable:
Sophomore Forward Francis Okoro
"I think the guys did a good job, this is a good group and a really good game going into the Bahamas. "We gotta keep it going but at the same time we gotta keep playing."

Senior Guard Anthony Mathis on being 5-0
"It's big, this is one of the best starts I've had in my college career. We're doing really great things but at the same time we got a lot of things we need to fix, obviously rebounding is one of them, second chance points. We need to execute a little better on offense, so I'm happy but not satisfied. We've got a tough schedule coming up these next few games and we're gonna see who we really are.

Up Next: Oregon flies to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis Nov. 27-29. The Ducks open the tournament with Seton Hall on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2).