Ducks Rebound In Big Way, Upset ’Cats

Saturday, January 14

Eugene, OR

3:00 PM

University of Oregon

10-8,4-3Pac-12

Arizona

15-3,4-3Pac-12

Arizona

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

01/14/23 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Oregon put together its most complete performance of the season Saturday to beat No. 9 Arizona, 87-68.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — Less than 48 hours after a lifeless loss at home to Arizona State, the Oregon men's basketball team bounced back in emphatic fashion Saturday, an 87-68 win over No. 9 Arizona before 7,970 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

Jermaine Couisnard scored 27 points in his first start of the season for the Ducks (10-8, 4-3 Pac-12), making 6-of-9 three-pointers on the day. N'Daly Dante added 22 points and 10 rebounds, Will Richardson had 14 points with five assists and four steals, and Keeshawn Barthelemy contributed five points, six rebounds and five assists.

Dante got the party started in Matthew Knight Arena with a steal and highlight-reel dunk over Arizona's Kerr Kriisa one minute into the game. A couple of hours later the party ended with members of the Oregon Pit Crew dancing at center court in celebration of the blowout.

"It was kind of personal today — their big guy (Oumar Ballo) is from Mali and I'm from Mali," said Dante, who also had three steals and two blocks. "I just wanted to get a 'dub'. I had a mindset before the game, we played them last year and they beat us by three; that's not happening again. … The last game (on Thursday), I was just worried about fouling. This one I was like, you know what, I'm going to do whatever my teams needs."

Saturday's performance was personal for UO coach Dana Altman, too, after Oregon's deflating loss to ASU two days earlier. Altman said he had a sleepless night Thursday, then tried to gather his thoughts on a drive south down Interstate-5 on Friday before practice.

Altman said he got nearly to Roseburg before finding some clarity — he wasn't going to change his message with the Ducks, though he did tinker with his lineup and rotations. Couisnard and Nate Bittle were inserted as starters and combined for 37 points with eight made threes, while substitutions came quicker to coax a more aggressive attitude from the Ducks when they were in the game.

"They were challenged today and they played awfully well, because Arizona's a good team," Altman said. "We just played really good today. I'm not sure they played poorly; I just think we played really good."

How It Happened: Dante opened the scoring for Oregon with a dunk that tied the score at 2-2, then stole the ensuing inbounds pass, dribbled the ball from midcourt and dunked over Kriisa. The Ducks spent their entire game Thursday against ASU searching for a spark like that. In the opening minute Saturday, they got it.

"When we saw him come down the lane and do that, that gave us a lot of confidence," Couisnard said.

With Oregon ahead 7-5, the Wildcats scored seven straight. Kel'el Ware hit a baseline jumper to end the run, but Arizona scored twice more in quick succession to lead 16-9. It was 19-13 when the Ducks exploded into the lead with 10 straight — a putback by Dante, consecutive threes by Couisnard and another bucket by Dante. The second three from Couisnard was actually an attempted three-quarter court lob to Dante, which sailed over the big man's head and through the hoop.

"That was the shot that did it for me," said Couisnard who missed the first 14 games of the season due to injury and only made his UO debut last week. "I knew it was one of those days."

Four turnovers in the next seven UO possessions helped Arizona rally back in front, 32-28. But the Ducks held the Wildcats without a field goal for the next five minutes, and took the lead on a Couisnard three followed by a Dante dunk set up by Richardson. Oregon's run got to 12-1 during Arizona's stretch without a field goal, as Ware flushed an assist by Richardson, Barthelemy had a steal and set up Richardson for a score and Barthelemy made a three for a 40-33 lead.

.@OregonMBB pulls off the upset over No. 9 Arizona ??

Full highlights ??#Pac12MBB | @Sproutsfm pic.twitter.com/n8qSgqjY5l
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) January 15, 2023

The Ducks led 43-37 at halftime, and Arizona quickly tied it after the break with consecutive threes. But Bittle hit a three that sparked another 10-0 run for Oregon, which included five points from Richardson. An alley oop from Barthelemy to Bittle got the lead to 13, at 63-50.

Perhaps the last threat from Arizona came on a three-pointer that cut Oregon's lead to 72-61 with 6:15 to play. Couisnard answered with a three on the next possession, however, sparking a 9-0 run by the Ducks to put the game away.

Notable: Arizona came into the game fourth in the country in rebounding margin at plus-9.2 per game, but the Ducks had a 42-32 edge on the boards Saturday. … Oregon's 11 three-pointers and 53.1 percent field-goal shooting overall were both season highs during conference play this year. … Dante's 22 points tied his career high, as did Bittle's 10 points.

Quotable:
Senior center N'Faly Dante on how the Ducks bounced back from Thursday's loss
"We came into practice and everybody was pissed. We just had to show that, if we show how we're capable of playing, we can be good. I'm glad everybody responded …. I know what we're capable of. Some days we show it, sometimes we don't. For me as a leader, we've got to be ready for every single game."

Head coach Dana Altman on keys to victory for the Ducks
"When we hold people under 70 (points), I think we're about 90 percent winning games. When we outrebound people, we're about 90 percent winning games. Now, I never claimed to be very smart, but 90 percent is good. You know, if you're playing hard, you can accomplish those things even if you don't shoot it well — because you're not gonna shoot it well every night. And that's probably what I've been disappointed in; when we don't hit shots, we give in to it."

Up Next: The Ducks play at California on Wednesday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).