First-Half Slump Spoils B1G Tournament Appearance

Tuesday, March 10

Chicago, Ill.

2 p.m. PT

University of Oregon

12-20,5-15Big Ten

Maryland

12-20,4-16Big Ten

Maryland

Oregon

03/10/26 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Oregon lost to Maryland in the opening round of the conference tournament Tuesday.

By: Rob Moseley

CHICAGO — Oregon's Big Ten Tournament appearance ended in the opening round Tuesday when the Ducks couldn't overcome first-half shooting woes.

The UO men (12-20) were 3-of-22 in the first half against Maryland at United Center, registering their first made field goal just more than 11 minutes into the game. They outscored the Terrapins in the second half, 48-37, but couldn't dig out of a deficit that ultimately reached as much as 24.

"Really disappointed in the way we started the game, obviously," UO coach Dana Altman said. "It's my job to have them ready to play, and that first half was awful. … The guys really battled, tried to get themselves back in it the second half — cleaned up some of the board play, made a couple shots."

Senior Nate Bittle had all three first-half buckets and finished with a team-high 16 points with six rebounds. Kwame Evans Jr. added 14 points with a game-high nine rebounds, and Takai Simpkins added 10 points with five assists, providing some playmaking in the continued absence of injured point guard Jackson Shelstad.

"We just had to do a better job of taking care of the ball and rebounding," Bittle said. "We just didn't come out ready in that first half. They jumped on us early, and ultimately they got the little gap lead there. We tried to fight back, but it wasn't enough."

The Ducks reached 20 losses in a season for the first time since 2008-09, two years before Altman took over the program. Altman hasn't had a team finish below .500 since all the way back in 1995-96, his second season at Creighton.

"I'm disappointed for these guys," Altman said at a postgame press conference also attended by Bittle and Evans. "They've been in two NCAA Tournaments, last year, the last two years, and the expectations were for us to win again, and we didn't. Part of that's injuries; part of that's poor decisions that I made in recruiting and not getting enough experience.

"So when our experience did go down, whether it was Jackson or Nate, we weren't able to keep anything together. We haven't had the assist-to-turnover ratio, the ball movement, the playmaking for KJ and for Nate that we needed to. No, I'm disappointed. It's been 30 years since I had a losing season, or my teams have had a losing season. So it's kind of hard to digest."

How It Happened: Oregon's only points over the opening 10 minutes came from the free-throw line, and the Ducks trailed 17-4 just past the midway point of the first half. Two free throws by Wei Lin were followed by a Bittle basket with 8:46 left in the half, the first made field goal for the UO men.

That cut Maryland's lead to 17-8, but Oregon's only offense the rest of the half was two more Bittle buckets, and the Terrapins were up 33-12 at halftime.

The Ducks' deficit was still 21 early in the second half, 41-20, when they mounted an 11-2 run to close within 12. Maryland countered to open up its biggest lead of the day at 58-34, before a 12-0 run capped by an Evans three-pointer got Oregon back within 12.

But while the UO men ultimately got back within single digits four times in the waning minutes, they could get no closer than nine as their comeback bid was thwarted.

The Big Picture: A difficult regular season was followed by a difficult showing in the conference tournament, compounding a frustrating final year for Bittle — an Oregon native who this season surpassed 1,000 career points with the program. He was asked about his reflections following Tuesday's loss.

"Just how blessed I've been to have been part of this program for five years," Bittle said. "I came in as a freshman, had to work my way into the lineup and everything. I built a great relationship with this guy here (Evans). Teammates I've had throughout the process, whether my freshman year all the way till now, has been a blessing. Nothing I'll ever take for granted. I'm thankful to be part of this program."

In a season that saw many of Oregon's key players miss significant time, Evans was close to a constant. He averaged 13.3 points per game as a junior.

"I'm grateful for it," Evans said. "I've been with this guy (Bittle) since I've been here, and he's been leading us. Watching him every day coming in, even if he's been hurt, to see him leading by example, it was great to be with him one last time and just really grateful for it."