It wasn’t the kind of open to the season anyone associated with the Oregon men’s basketball team was looking for.
First came the news that point guard Will Richardson will miss six weeks due to a thumb injury. Then the Ducks had to play a game and if the first half went the way of the second half, it would have been a much different story.
Mizzouri outscored Oregon 42-31 in the first half and held off the late Duck rally to win 83-75 as the two teams met in Omaha, Neb.
Senior transfer Eugene Omoruyi had one of the more memorable debuts in Oregon history as the former Rutgers Scarlet Knight led the team with 31 points and 11 rebounds.
Chris Duarte did his part to keep Oregon within shouting distance with 22 points. Eric Williams, Jr. added 13 points, but unfortunately those were the only Ducks who managed double figures on the night.
Defensively, the Ducks couldn’t figure out how to stop Xavier Pinson, who led the Tigers with 22 points on just 5-of-11 shooting. But the point guard did sink 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Finding some consistancy on the offense end was a problem for the Ducks the whole game and this is where missing Richardson came into play. Having an experienced point guard makes a world of difference and this game showed it. Missouri had Pinson and Oregon was without Richardson.
After trailing by as much as 17 in the first half, the Ducks did manage to put together a bunch of defensive stops. At one point, the Tigers missed on 14 consecutive field goal attempts and at the 17:23 mark of the second half, Oregon had pulled to within 42-37.
But that would be as close to the Tigers as the Ducks could get.
Mizzouri went on a 12-2 run in the next three minutes of action and held a double-digit lead for the majority of the half. Duarte’s lay-in with 32 seconds left made it 77-72, but for the Ducks, it was too little, too late.
Oregon shot just 41 percent on the night and just 7-of-21 from three-point range. Mizzouri, on the other hand, shot 46 percent and 9-of-31 from long distance.
The Ducks will get back at it on Friday, also hosted by Creighton, as they will take on Seton Hall. The Pirates and Ducks played last season where Seton Hall squeaked by 71-69.
But the two teams are vastly different this season as the Pirates are 1-2 thus far and are coming off a 76-63 loss to Rhode Island.
The game can be seen at 6 pm PST on FS1.
POST GAME; DANA ALTMAN DISCUSSES MISSOURI LOSS