Oregon was overwhelmed from the get-go in a 80-62 loss to the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks (11-4, 1-1) were out-rebounded 40-27 and were held to a 39.3 percent clip from the field against a team with a significant height and talent advantage.
However, Oregon did have its chances to stay in the ball game. The Ducks trailed by just five points at halftime, but Arizona (14-1, 2-0) quickly extended its lead to double-digits after a handful of bad Oregon possessions to start the second half.
“We got out of whack,” head coach Dana Altman said. “We could never get that run going that we’d hoped for, that’s where they’re an experienced team and they really hurt us.”
Point guard T.J. McConnell found easy baskets against the Duck defense, scoring 21 points on 9-14 from the field, but Arizona’s biggest advantage came in the paint.
Center Kaleb Tarcewski shot 5-7 from the field for 11 points and brought down 10 boards, while freshman standout Stanley Johnson pitched in 14 and forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 13 to round out the Wildcat offense. Hollis-Jefferson and Johnson also reeled in nine and seven rebounds respectively.
The Wildcats’ length made its biggest impact on the defensive end of the floor. The Pac-12’s leading scorer Joseph Young was held to just a 4-15 shooting night for 12 points, well below his season average of 20.1 points per game.
As a team, Oregon was held to 4-20 from three point range and only converted 20 field goals throughout.
“We had some good looks, it just didn’t fall tonight,” freshman guard Casey Benson said. “But mainly we kind of beat ourselves in some areas. We just have to clean up the rebounding and when shots aren’t going we need to rely on our defense and defensive rebounding.”
Arizona added 24 points from the free throw line and picked up a noticeable edge in the foul count. Elgin Cook scored six points off of impressive dribble drives, but was held to 11 minutes because of foul trouble.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” Altman said. “You can’t do that against a good team.”
Every time Oregon made some headway into Arizona’s lead, the Wildcats responded with a well-executed possession for an easy basket, or turned the Ducks over. Arizona shot 48 percent from the field for the night and picked up seven steals to keep the lead in tact.
Jordan Bell, who was pitted against Brandon Ashley and Tarczewski for most of the game, picked up his 51st block of the season against the Wildcats, tying the Oregon single season record for blocked shots.
The Ducks will have to regroup quickly and prepare to Arizona State on Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
Follow Josh Schlichter on Twitter @joshschlichter
