Oregon can thank Dwayne Benjamin for picking up the slack. Benjamin, who boasted a game-high 18 points in an overtime comeback win over UC Irvine, played his best game of the season, despite a rough night for the now 10-3 Ducks.
Heading into Pac-12 play, Dana Altman is still concerned with the inconsistency of his team, but was pleased with what he saw from the third year transfer from Mt. San Jacinto College.
Said Altman: “He’s making progress, he’s just got a long ways to go.”
Tonight was a coming out party for Benjamin, who had been struggling to find his own in his first Division I season. But with Jalil Abdul-Bassit out with an undisclosed injury, Benjamin was given the opportunity to contribute.
Needless to say, Benjamin took full advantage of his 33 minutes on the floor.
“We’ve been waiting for it (Dwayne to step up his production),” Ahmaad Rorie said. “He was back in the starting lineup today, so I think that gave him a lot of confidence.”
Benjamin opened up the game for the Ducks. In addition to grabbing five boards against a lengthy Anteaters lineup, Benjamin also hit some key shots for the Ducks — going 8-for-14 from the floor — including a game tying three with 7.6 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
“Wasn’t really surprising to me,” Rorie said about Benjamin’s late game shot. “Even though he hasn’t been shooting well, he’s been working on his shot.”
On a night where the Ducks recorded a season-high 18 turnovers, Benjamin provided a much-needed boost.
“He made some timely shots for us no doubt,” Altman said. “Defensively did some good things. With the exception of the turnovers, I thought he played pretty good.”
Even with the unexpected lift from Benjamin though, Altman was far from pleased. In their second straight overtime win, Altman still found himself repeating the same areas of concern.
From Altman’s view, Benjamin, along with the rest of the teammates still lacking consistency as they head into conference play.
“Consistency is a problem for a lot of teams,” Altman said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do with everybody.”
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim