It was a strong first half for Oregon against Portland State on Saturday night, as the mens’ hoops squad turned in a far better early performance against the Vikings than it did against Northern Arizona in Saturday’s season opener. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=235&SPSID=4294@@
Oregon led at intermission 51-33 against PSU, a slight improvement over the NAU game which the Ducks led 45-35 at half. The true measure of how well Oregon faired in the early going came in their shooting percentage.
Oregon shot an amazing 58 percent from the field in the first half against the Vikes, with an even more incredible 7-of-10 mark from beyond the arc. In the first ten minutes of action, the Ducks played inside out, feeding the ball into the post with big guys Waverly Austin and Tony Woods posting up and scoring down low or kicking back out to the perimeter to wide-open shooters. Jonathan Loyd, Dominic Artis and Carlos Emory combined to go 4-of-5 from three-point land before the 10-minute-mark. The next trio of threes were a result of the perimeter players finding their teammates sitting behind the arc in transition to create easy opportunities. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=235&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205735782@@
“I thought our ball movement in transition was pretty good,” said Ducks’ head coach Dana Altman. “We went 2-for-9 in the second half and most of those were off the dribble which are much more difficult than from the pass. I thought the ten threes we took in the first half were all pretty good threes. In the second half I know they weren’t as good of looks.”
Artis finished the half as tops in scoring for the Ducks with 13 points (16 for the game), making three of his five deep-ball attempts.
On defense Oregon was sharp from the opening tip, forcing 11 turnovers in the opening act that equated to 11 points. The Ducks were better on the defensive boards than their opponent, snagging 13 PSU missed shots, while holding the Vikings to a 43 percent shooting performance.
“Our defensive intensity wasn’t quite the same the second half as it was in the first half,” said Altman.
What was truly impressive about the first half performance was the fact that Oregon shot so well with the multitude of lineups Altman put on the floor. 11 Ducks played in the initial half with nine of those players attempting at least one shot, and seven of that group, had successful attempts. Over half the Ducks’ points in the first stanza came from bench players, with Damyean Dotson contributing nine from his reserve role (12 total by night’s end).
“I think we have a number of guys who can help us in the rotation,” Altman said. “We don’t have any rotations set.”