From the get-go, it was Arizona’s game to lose. Even on the road, the No. 7 ranked Wildcats (14-1, 2-0 Pac-12) held every advantage and put them to use against an untested Oregon (11-4, 1-1 Pac-12) team.
Sure, the Ducks held their own against ranked opponents like VCU and Michigan earlier in the year, but the Wildcats simply posed a different circumstance on the road. Talent alone, this Wildcats team was just too much for the Ducks to handle in their second conference game.
“The physicality of the game got to us,” Altman said. “Their athleticism really hurt us there, so we got out of whack, we had a lot of bad offensive possessions. We could just never get that run going that we’d hope for.”
The tempo was set early on by veteran point guard T.J. McConnell. En route to scoring a game-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, the senior leader from Fullerton, California picked apart the Ducks defense and made it look easy.
The Ducks managed to contain standouts like Kaleb Tarczewski (11 points) and Brandon Ashley (10 points) to relatively quiet outings, but McConnell just wasn’t phased against a freshmen combination of Casey Benson and Ahmaad Rorie.
“He played really, really well tonight,” Benson said. “I should have done a better job, but give him credit. Obviously a very experienced guard, he’s been around for awhile, so to get experience playing guys of his caliber was really good for us tonight.”
On paper, the Wildcats didn’t stick out in one particular area. Instead, they executed their game plan until the Ducks beat themselves, which in this case, meant poor offensive possessions or more specifically, a terrible outside shooting performance. The Ducks finished 4-of-20 from beyond the arc, an area they often rely on to succeed.
“We’re going to have to hit some threes,” Altman said. “If you remember right when we came back from an eight-point deficit and beat them last year, we went 10-for-18 from three. We did have some looks, but we just never hit them.”
Fans crowded Matthew Knight Arena in hopes of upsetting the Wildcats for the second straight year at home, but left knowing this was a different team, a different year.
There were positives however, and it involved the play of Jordan Bell. On a night where the rest of his teammates fell subject to an unforgiving Wildcats defense, Bell stepped up, recording 11 points and five rebounds. Not only did Bell play the best post defense against one of the most talented trios in the country, but he also did it on a night where he tied the single-season blocks record at Oregon with three tonight, 51 on the season.
During a season where the school is still in the process of dealing with a lawsuit involving the alleged sexual assault case, Bell has remained a bright spot.
“I am aware of the lawsuit that was filed today and then our general counsel’s office will be handling all of those questions,” Altman said. “That’s all I can say on the matter.”
For the first time in four years, the Wildcats exited Eugene with a road win. And this time, it was because they were outright the better team.
“Their guys were excited,” Altman said about Arizona. “I thought nervous energy early in the ball game, we got way down, it was just nerves, we got stuck in the mud. But the guys wanted to compete, they were excited about the opportunity to play a top 10 team, we just didn’t respond very well.”
Altman gave his same spiel about the many areas of improvements that the Ducks need to make and tonight, you could see why.
The Ducks will now look to rebound against Arizona State this Saturday.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim