TEMPE, Ariz. — At least Luke Ridnour had an excuse.
The Oregon freshman point guard has been battling the flu all week, so his zero points in 13 minutes were understandable.
But for the rest of the Oregon men’s basketball team, Thursday night’s lethargic and embarrassing 86-74 defeat to Arizona State left them dumbfounded.
“I can’t tell you [why]. We just made mistakes,” said junior guard Freddie Jones, who was Oregon’s lone bright spot with a career-high 36 points.
“Horrible … it’s tough,” junior guard Anthony Norwood said. Asked about Oregon’s postseason hopes, which took a devastating blow with this loss, all Norwood could quietly muster was, “I don’t know.”
It was that type of night at the half-filled, relatively dormant Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
Consider this: Both teams combined for 51 personal fouls and 45 turnovers.
And you know it’s bad when your coach compares you to a slow-footed animal.
“We were like floundering sheep out there,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “I called a timeout and could see their body language and their eyes. We just didn’t get it done.”
The defeat means that any realistic shot of Oregon (13-13 overall, 4-12 Pacific-10 Conference) qualifying for the NIT rides on its ability to win its last two games: Saturday against No. 9 Arizona and March 10 at Oregon State.
“It was just a bad atmosphere tonight,” Norwood said. “We know we’re better than that. We didn’t take care of business.”
Oregon had talked of seeking revenge on the Sun Devils after losing to them by 27 points at home. Led by Jones, the Ducks went on an 11-0 run that helped propel them into halftime with a 37-31 advantage.
But then things turned U-G-L-Y for the Ducks.
The Sun Devils came out from the break red-hot. Alton Mason converted a layup. Donnell Knight dropped in a jumper. Chad Prewitt showed off his shooting touch.
And then Tommy Smith drained a field goal and threw down two emphatic one-handed slams.
The result was a 17-3 Arizona State run, which was soon extended to a 23-5 spurt that put the Ducks behind 54-42 at the 12:35 mark.
From there on out, Oregon unsuccessfully tried to play catch-up.
“We come out in the second half and give them an opportunity to shoot 70 percent from the field, and you don’t beat a lot of teams that you give the opportunity to shoot 70 percent,” Kent said.
Technically, the Sun Devils shot 71.4 percent from the field in the second half, compared to the Ducks’ poor 34.3 percent showing in that time.
Arizona State improved to 12-14, 4-11, thanks in large part to Mason’s team-high 25 points, and now it has an outside chance at making the NIT itself.
“It would’ve been easy to throw the towel in, but they came in really focused,” Arizona State head coach Rob Evans said of his team. “This is a great win for our guys.”
Now, it all comes down to this for the Ducks: There are two games left. They need to win both if they want to keep playing beyond March 10.
And it must start with a tough upset victory against the revenge-minded Wildcats, who have not forgotten about their loss in Eugene.
“We just want a win,” said Jones, who scored the most points by a Duck since Orlando Williams tallied 40 on Feb. 19, 1994. “For me, this is not an individual sport. It’s all about the team, and we’re not giving up.
“I’m going to fight until the final whistle of the final game.”