Revenge was at Oregon’s fingertips Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena as the Ducks took on the visiting California Golden Bears who handed them a 58-54 loss on February 2nd in Berkley.
A jump shot from California’s Justin Cobbs with .7 seconds remaining was the nail in the coffin that handed the Ducks their 11th straight loss the Golden Bears, this time only by 2, a final score of 48-46.
Oregon started out sluggish, just 1-8 from the field in the opening minutes. Carlos Emory was a quick spark for the Ducks turning the first half around as they claimed a 26-21 halftime lead, largely in part from his 9 point opening half that lead all scorers.
On a night where Jonathan Lyod, EJ Singler, Arsalan Kazemi, and Tony Woods were a combined 2-16 in the opening half. Oregon was lucky to stay as close as they did late in the game. A meager shooting percentage of 27.6%, easily could have made this loss worse.
“I’m not sure the teams ever shot 27%, you play hard and we had good looks… we just didn’t knock them down.” – Head Coach Dana Altman
A balanced approach from Altman kept the floor rotation fluid, 9 different Ducks saw playing time. Something that provided different defensive matchups against the Bears who struggled to adjust, especially in the first half as they shot just 28%.
If Arsalan Kazemi could learn to play a complete game he would be extremely dangerous. 14 first half rebounds seemed like a good start, but paired with his 1-6 shooting from the field, his true potential was not reached. Although ending the night with 11 points and a season high 18 rebounds was not enough.
“I let him (coach) down I didn’t play my best… so it really hurts not winning this game” – Arsalan Kazemi
Clearly lacking height against the Bears, Oregon’s shortest man, Jonathan Loyd (5-8) was forced to match up against Robert Thurman (6-10) and Allen Crabbe (6-6) at times. Keeping Crabbe, who averages 19.8 points per game scoreless for the first 14:34.
Crabbe, however showed how good he can be, quickly adding 10 of his 12 total points. Foul trouble forced him to the bench as he was handed his 3rd foul with over 13 minutes to play.
EJ Singler saw his shooting curse lifted in the 2nd half after a scoreless first half he ended the night with 7 points, but not near enough to heal the pain of never beating the Bears in his regular season career as a Duck.
“ I haven’t won against them my whole time at Oregon… I thought we had it today, but it’s just a hard way to loose.” – EJ Singler
Oregon drops to 21-6 but remains atop the pac-12 standings. The Ducks will stay at home, where Stanford comes to town Saturday, followed by the Beavers, next Thursday.
Click below to hear AJ Untermeyer’s report from Matthew Knight Arena
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