It was an up and down kind of feeling inside Matthew Knight Arena this weekend for the Oregon basketball teams.
The Oregon women hosted the Washington schools and came away with two nice wins over the Cougars and Huskies.
But in between those games, the Duck men hosted the Beavers in their first game in two weeks and it showed as OSU came away with an upset win.
Let’s begin with the good news first.
Kelly Graves was fairly rough with his young team after a lackluster performance in the desert and it seems that tough love was just what the Ducks needed.
Although they still struggled at times on the offensive end of the floor, the Ducks mustered up just enough baskets to put away a surprisingly good WSU team 58-50.
This weekend might have been a coming out party for Sedona Prince as she showed why she was a pre-season first-team all-conference selection despite not playing a Pac-12 game before this year.
The 6-7 center scored 14 points, eight of those points coming in a pivotal third quarter that saw Oregon erase an eight-point deficit. The Duck defense took it from there as they held the Cougars to under 26 percent from the field.
That defensive effort continued two days later as the Ducks defeated the Huskies 69-52.
With the win, Oregon moved to 11-3 overall and 9-3 in Pac-12 action, just 1/2 game behind first place Arizona.
Once again, it was Prince who dominated with 16 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Her weekend numbers make her a prime candidat for Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.
Oregon held Washington to just 30 percent from the field on 19-of-63 shooting. The Ducks’ offense seemed to be in a better rhythm as five players were in double figures. Angela Dugalic and Sydney Parrish each scored 12 with Lydia Giomi adding 11 and Te-Hina Paopao’s 10 points as well.
Now the Ducks will go to the Mountain schools to face Utah (Jan. 29, 2 pm, Pac-12 Network) and Colorado (Jan. 31, 11 am, Pac-12 Network).
MISSING DUARTE AND FIGUEROA PROVE COSTLY IN LOSS TO OSU
The Oregon men’s team was facing all kinds of adversity when the Beavers came calling Saturday night and it was just too much to overcome.
Two weeks away from the floor didn’t help matters and Oregon was also missing Chris Duarte and LJ Figueroa due to coronavirus protocols. All of them spelled doom as Oregon State came into Matthew Knight Arena and ended the Ducks’ 28-game home winning streak with a 75-64 victory.
Oregon State used their advantage inside the key all night long and pounded the Ducks on the glass 42-23. Center Warith Alatishe notched up career highs with 14 points and 16 rebounds.
This game also showed how much Duarte’s shooting ability and presense on the defensive end of the floor Oregon needs in order to be successful. Without him, the Ducks were just 39 percent from the field and 28 percent from long range.
Coupled with the losses of Duarte and Figueroa, Oregon really felt the loss of center N’Faly Dante for rebounding reasons and point guard Will Richardson, someone who could calm the Ducks down when the Beavers were making runs and get the team in successful offensive sets.
Oregon is hoping Duarte, Figueroa and possibly Richardson can all come back this coming weekend as the Ducks will play three games in the Los Angeles area. Oregon needs to play UCLA twice inside Pauley Pavilion in the span of four days (Jan. 28, Feb. 1) with a contest with USC Jan. 30 in the middle.