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Oregon’s big win over No. 3 Arizona caps impressive regular season turnaround

altman

After beginning the season 13-0 Oregon went through an incredible rough patch, starting Pac-12 play 3-8 and looking nothing like the team that managed to run and gun its way into the top ten of the national rankings. They weren’t particularly good defending on the perimeter, and offensively the pieces just didn’t seem to fit as they did during much of non-conference play.

Head coach Dana Altman clearly had some questions to answer, and by the looks of that 3-8 stretch the solutions did not appear to be readily available. Oregon (22-8, 10-8) would prove that assumption to be incorrect, closing the regular season with seven straight wins after beating No. 3 Arizona 64-57 in Eugene. And as a result of that victory, the Ducks will head to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament next week in very good shape with regards to making the NCAA tournament.

The difference on Saturday afternoon was simple: Oregon has more capable perimeter shooters than Arizona. The Ducks made ten of their nineteen shots from beyond the arc, outscoring the Wildcats (2-for-11 3PT) by a margin of 30-6 on three-point shots. Senior Jason Calliste was responsible for four of those makes, and his fourth shot gave Oregon a 56-51 lead with 3:43 remaining. That shot was part of a 16-4 run, turning a 50-45 deficit into a 61-54 lead with just over a minute left in the game.

Even with Arizona’s (28-3, 15-3) lack of consistent perimeter shooting, the Wildcats still entered the game ranked third in the Pac-12 in adjusted offensive efficiency per Ken Pomeroy’s numbers. Their ability to hurt teams on the offensive glass while also taking care of the basketball two reasons for this, but against Oregon the Wildcats weren’t able to take advantage of their athleticism on the boards. Arizona scored just eight second-chance points, which matched Oregon’s output in that statistical category.

During this 7-0 stretch Oregon has looked like a team more comfortable in its roles, with Calliste, Johnathan Loyd and Joseph Young seeing the majority of the minutes on the perimeter and Mike Moser posting a double-double in four straight games. Moser’s improvement has been one of the biggest reasons for the turnaround, as he’s reached double digits in all seven games. Doesn’t seem like a big deal? Well, during that 3-8 run Moser reached double figures in five of those 11 games.

Instead of having a plethora of players receiving minutes Oregon’s pared things down some, and that has worked to their benefit. And now that the Ducks have a good grasp on who they are and where they’re most effective, Oregon’s playing its best basketball at just the right time.

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