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Oregon’s struggles continue in loss at Oregon State

altman

Having lost three straight Pac-12 games after squeaking past Utah in their league opener, the Oregon Ducks needed to get back on track against rival Oregon State on Sunday night. Struggling defensively, the general assumption regarding Dana Altman’s team is that if they could improve on that end of the floor they’d have enough offensive firepower to ensure a turnaround.

Unfortunately for Oregon they struggled offensively, shooting 38% from the field and 4-for-19 from beyond the arc in Corvallis. The end result: an 80-72 loss to their in-state rival, falling to 1-4 in Pac-12 play as a result. Oregon State did shoot 7-for-13 from three and 27-for-31 from the foul line, but they also turned the ball over 20 times and as a result provided Oregon with multiple opportunities to grab control of the contest.

Oregon was unable to take advantage of those chances, and the production of their starters factored into that. The starting five shot just 7-for-35 from the field, with Mike Moser shooting 3-for-15. Some credit, especially when it came to Oregon’s finishing at the basket, should be given to an Oregon State defense that blocked nine shots. However this was more about Oregon, and their struggles resulted in a 16-point hole with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Oregon bench scored 47 points with Jason Calliste (17 points) and Richard Amardi (13 points, six rebounds) providing some much-needed energy, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

Oregon’s struggled defensively in Pac-12 play but Sunday night was more about the offense, with three-point shooting, production from the starters and a poor assist count being the biggest issues. Just six of Oregon’s 25 made field goals were assists; by comparison Oregon State assisted on 19 of its 23 made field goals. Given the number of capable scorers in Oregon’s rotation that shouldn’t happen.

Oregon State picked up a valuable win, with Roberto Nelson scoring 22 points and Eric Moreland (15 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocks) filling the stat sheet. Craig Robinson’s team certainly deserves credit for the result, but this is a concerning defeat for Oregon on two fronts.

There’s the obvious “quality of play” issue for Oregon, but they’ve also got a resume that doesn’t look as good as it did a month ago. Those wins over Georgetown and Illinois have lost their luster, meaning that the Ducks’ best wins came against BYU and Ole Miss. With a number of teams sporting meager resumes at this point in time, this won’t be a killer if Oregon can get its act together.

But can they get their act together? At this point that’s anyone’s guess.

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