Dana Altman and the No. 25 ranked Oregon men’s basketball team (2-0) didn’t quite know what to expect as they tipped off against No. 20 Baylor (1-1).
This early in the season, without having faced a quality opponent, there were naturally a lot of question marks surrounding Altman’s limited roster.
“We’re not ready for that — I’ll just be real honest,” Altman bluntly said leading up to the ESPN 2 aired night game.
Without Jordan Bell and Dylan Ennis, Altman – like it or not – had to entrust a lot of the responsibilities to freshman like Tyler Dorsey and Kendall Small.
Dorsey, who was coming off a 20-point debut against Jackson State, followed up with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists tonight. With Dillon Brooks fouling out with about seven minutes to go – finishing with 10 points and five boards – Dorsey was a huge lift.
But here’s the bottom line: the Ducks came out looking sound on both sides of the ball against a physical, experienced Bears team and it was enough to come away with a notable 74-67 win in November.
“It was a pretty big game,” Dwayne Benjamin said. “They were a highly ranked team and we knew they were a real good team. We just wanted to see where we were compared to them.”
In their biggest non-conference test of the season, Oregon came up with consistent stops on the defensive end and spread the ball on offense. According to Altman, forcing 18 turnovers was “the difference in the game.”
So far, defense has been their recipe for success.
“I think our guys are thinking about it (potential on defense),” Altman said. “Right now we don’t have the offensive firepower that I think we’re going to develop as the season goes on, so we’ve really been talking about guarding and rebounding, trying to stay in games that way.”
With Bell still sidelined with a broken foot, Oregon’s new big Chris Boucher had another solid outing with 15 points and eight rebounds in the win.
“With Jordan Bell out, we’d be lost without him right now,” Altman said. “That’s a great first big test for him.”
The last six minutes were where the questions started to really flood in around the Ducks. After leading for the entirety of the game, Baylor’s struggling offense, which shot 39.3 percent this game, began to come alive, just as the game looked like it might slip away.
By the 3:17 mark, the Bears had strung together a quick 12-3 run that kept things interesting down the stretch. It was a combination of a gassed nine-man Oregon rotation that gave up easy buckets on one end and clanked questionable shots on the other.
“We ran out of gas…we had some god awful possessions,” Altman said.
During this stretch, the once fast paced, ball spreading, lob throwing Oregon offense that was seen in the first half – held 35-24 lead at halftime – took a plunge. Instead of attacking Baylor’s tricky zone, Altman’s balanced team got stagnant when Baylor went man-to-man, allowing Scott Drew’s veteran crew to creep back into the game.
Here is where Oregon received its first real gut check of the year. To get specific: it was the first time Altman had to figure what to do on offense without his go-to Joseph Young at the top of the key to bail the team out.
Altman chose to go to his veteran leader Elgin Cook.
“(the game plan was to) get it into the playmakers’ hands, which is Elgin,” Benjamin said. “He’s the leader on the team. We did and it ended up pretty good for us.”
Cook, who finished with a team-high 15 points and five boards, was isolated near the paint three straight possessions with less than two minutes to play when the shot clock was winding down in a close game. And while he ended up shooting an efficient 6-of-12 for the game, Cook managed to go just 1-for-3 – thanks to a fade away bank shot from the left elbow – with the game on the line.
Give credit to the Baylor defense, but also remember that Oregon failed to come up with quality looks in a tight game.
As Oregon progresses this season, they won’t be looking back at this early season matchup. Chances are that by the time it’s all said and done, this team will look drastically different once they return Bell and Ennis.
But for now, this Oregon roster is going to live and die by their defense until their offense comes along.
Everyone will remember the handful of lobs that Boucher flushed in and Dwayne Benjamin’s one-handed put back dunk early in the second half.
But it’s the team defense that allowed Oregon to overcome a 20-for-30 outing at the line, a dismal 6-for-25 performance from beyond the arc, and most importantly, a talented Baylor team that hadn’t given up 75 points in 46 games.
“I really think we can become a good defensive team when everybody continues to develop,” Altman said.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim