Jermaine Couisnard carries Oregon to crucial blowout win over Cal
Before Thursday’s game had even tipped off, the Oregon men’s basketball program received a major boost to its postseason outlook.
The Ducks came into the day needing a bit of help elsewhere in the conference if they hoped to secure an all-important first-round bye in next week’s Pac-12 tournament. With UCLA’s victory over Arizona State in Los Angeles, they got exactly that. As a result of the Sun Devil’s loss, Oregon simply needed to take care of business during its final two regular season games in order to clinch a bye in Las Vegas.
One down, one to go.
The Ducks topped the Cal Golden Bears 84-51 Thursday in a dominant showing at Matthew Knight Arena to improve to 17-13 on the season and 11-8 in Pac-12 play.
Oregon shot 54.8% from the field — its second-best mark of the season — and held Cal to just 35% shooting.
The Ducks outscored the Golden Bears 46-26 in the paint and got strong showings from all three of their rotation big men.
Senior guard Jermaine Cousinard led the way with 17 points. N”Faly Dante, Rivaldo Soares, and Nate Bittle all had 10 points apiece.
How it happened
Oregon was sluggish early in the evening and struggled to separate from the Golden Bears, in large part, because of self-inflicted errors.
The Ducks turned the ball over six times within the first 10 minutes of regulation. They settled down late in the half, though, and produced one of their better shooting performances of the season throughout the remainder of the night.
Over the final 9:38 of the first half, the Ducks went on a 27-14 run that was fueled by the sharp shooting of Couisnard. The senior guard scored 13 points during that span, nine of which came on three-point looks.
The late-half surge sent the Ducks into the break with a 42-26 lead, and they didn’t slow down once the second half began.
Nate Bittle scored eight points within the first four minutes of the second half, and Oregon continued to dominate Cal in the paint.
As the second half went on, and Oregon further extended its lead, head coach Dana Altman took an opportunity to rest some of his starters and distribute minutes to a few players who normally operate in reserve roles.
Tyrone Williams saw his first game action since Feb. 9 and played 16 minutes on the night. Highly-touted freshman Kel’el Ware played 19 minutes — his most since Dec. 31.
Ware finished with 10 points and six points on the night and showed as much offensive upside as he has at any point this season.
The only Oregon players who didn’t play on Thursday were Lok Wur (concussion protocol) and Brennan Rigsby (ankle).
With 3:23 to go, and Oregon leading 80-49, Altman emptied his bench and sent walk-ons Brady Paris, Gabe Reichle, and James Cooper into the game, which drew a loud ovation from the Matthew Knight Arena faithful.
What’s next
The Ducks will close out the regular season with senior night on Saturday when they host Stanford (13-17, 7-12) at 1 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena.
With a win, Oregon will leapfrog Arizona State and lock up fourth place in the conference standings.
