Oregon suffers worst conference defeat of season in blowout loss at Arizona
The Oregon Ducks entered the weekend with an opportunity to notch a season-defining victory and resuscitate their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes.
Instead, Dana Altman’s squad suffered its most lopsided loss of the season.
Oregon fell, 103-83, to the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday. With the loss, the Ducks fell to 19-10 on the season and 10-7 in Pac-12 play. They entered the day sitting at No. 65 in the NET rankings, and now almost certainly will need to win the Pac-12 Tournament in March if they hope to secure a spot in the big dance.
Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 39 points on 14-of-24 shooting for Oregon — 33 of which came in the second half. N’Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Jackson Shelstad also added 16 points.
But the rest of the Ducks’ players combined for just 12 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
Caleb Love and Pelle Larsson had 22 points apiece for Arizona. Keshad Johnson scored 21 points, and Kylan Boswell had 19.
The Wildcats registered assists on 27 of their 39 field goals. They shot 61% from the field and 56% from three-point range.
Oregon held its own against Arizona during the opening minutes of the game as Couisnard and Shelstad each buried a couple of early shots.
But, in the final 15 minutes of the half, Arizona uncorked an offensive explosion that was sparked by Boswell and Love. From the 12:30 to 9:51 mark, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run and extended their lead to 29-12.
Several minutes later, Boswell and Bradley combined for another 7-0 run over the course of 50 seconds to make it 39-16.
By halftime, Arizona led 51-30 and had erased any hopes the Ducks had of climbing back into contention.
Oregon never cut the Wildcats’ lead to fewer than 15 points in the second half.
Things went from bad to worse for the Ducks midway through the second half when all-conference center N’Faly Dante left the game with an apparent left leg injury.
Dante fell to the floor in pain after a teammate inadvertently rolled into his left while pursuing a loose ball. The 6-foot-10 senior walked off the court under his own power and headed to the locker room. He later returned to the game and appeared to be OK.
The Ducks will look to bounce back next week when they return home and host the mountain schools in Eugene for the final two games of the regular season.
Oregon will face Colorado at 6 p.m. PT on March 7 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, and then host Utah on March 9 at 4 p.m.
The Pac-12 Tournament is slated to begin on March 13 in Las Vegas.
