The Oregon men’s basketball team used some of its depth to overcome another slow start and defeat Concordia 94-63 on Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Five Ducks finished in double-figures and the team shot 52.5 percent (42-80) on the night in the lopsided matchup, but a sloppy start gave Oregon (5-2) head coach Dana Altman plenty of things to worry about.
“Teams that focus in on what they’re about to face and know that they’ve got challenges ahead show maturity, then they realize that they’ve got to make steps every time out,” Altman said. “We’ve got to play a lot better; offensively we have to get a lot better, defensively we’ve got to tie a lot of things up. I was hoping to get some of that accomplished tonight and I don’t feel like we did.”
Most of Altman’s concerns stemmed from high turnover numbers (16) and multiple dysfunctional offensive possessions, as Oregon shot just 1-16 from three point range in the first half.
“I don’t think we were playing as a team at first,” Ahmaad Rorie said. “We were forcing up threes when we should have really just been getting to the rack and play inside-out. If we would have been doing that, we would have been a lot more successful.”
While Oregon shot just 5-26 from three against Concordia, it did shoot 37-54 (68 percent) from two point range as the team readjusted to that inside-out mantra.
Joseph Young contributed to the poor tally, going 0-5 from deep, but still found a way to lead the Ducks offensively with 20 points on 10-18 shooting.
Jordan Bell continued to show his improvement with a solid night on both ends of the court. The freshman forward had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, providing a glimpse into the versatile Bell’s bright future.
Bell’s front-court cohort Dillon Brooks picked up his second double-double of his career with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The play of both Bell and Brooks will be integral to Oregon’s success down the road in Pac-12 play.
Dwayne Benjamin made his return to the court after nursing an ankle injury over the past two games and contributed 11 points with 6 rebounds.
“I thought he was a little rusty with a few of his turnovers,” Altman said. “But I thought he did some good things.”
Elgin Cook, who went 9-10 from the field, ended up being Oregon’s most efficient player and finished second in scoring with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Up next, Oregon hosts Ole Miss on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena, a team that is itching to revenge its overtime loss to the Ducks at home last season.
“They’re doing some different things defensively with the 1-3-1 zone,” Altman said. “We’ll need two good days to get ready for them, there’s no doubt about that.”
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