SEATTLE — The five hour bus ride back to Eugene was going to be long no matter what.
But the Oregon men’s basketball team let out a collective sigh of relief Saturday night knowing it would embark on the trip after a hard-earned victory, and not another hair-pulling defeat.
The slumping Ducks found reason to smile again following their 85-73 victory over the Washington Huskies at the newly renovated Bank of America Arena in Seattle.
“I’m so thankful that we won because I didn’t want to go home on the bus for five hours thinking about another loss,” freshman forward Luke Jackson said.
Oregon (13-10 overall, 4-9 Pacific-10 Conference) played in front of a strong contingent of Ducks fans splashed around the 7,519 in attendance, with many cheering for Blaine, Wash., resident Luke Ridnour in his return to the Seattle area. While Ridnour did produce 14 points in 38 minutes of action, it was the other Luke that stole the show.
Jackson started and displayed his all-around game in recording the rare triple double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He became the first Duck to perform such a feat since Ron Lee did it against Montana State on Dec. 7, 1972.
“That was unbelievable for a freshman to come in here and do that.” Ridnour said of Jackson’s game.
The victory helped Oregon move on from its one-point loss to Washington State last Thursday, and rediscover how enjoyable the game of basketball can be.
“It’s a big relief, and once you’re playing together, it means you’re having fun,” said junior Freddie Jones, who converted many of his game-high 22 points on thunderous slams.
Oregon was certainly having fun in the early goings of the second half when the three ball helped dig the Huskies a hole they could never climb out of.
In a seven minute stretch, Ridnour drained three treys and Bryan Bracey and Jones each converted one en route to a 27-12 run that put the Ducks ahead 67-49 with 12:17 to play.
“We went on a run there and finally hit some [threes] that really got us going,” Ridnour said.
Washington (9-16, 3-10) wouldn’t quit, however, thanks in large part to the play of C.J. Massingale. The freshman guard had a team-high 18 points and closed the Huskies to within 79-73 when he drained two free throws with 1:53 remaining.
With the “Dawghouse” hoping for a late-game miracle, the Huskies blew their opportunities to slice the lead even further. Washington was then forced to send Oregon to the free throw line where the Ducks secured their much-needed win after losing nine of their previous 11 games.
“When you get ourselves in the situations like you’re in, the easy way out is to point fingers and blame others,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “We talked about where you need to go to fight through that adversity. That’s where you have to look within, and this is what this team did.”
Kent seemed to have found a starting five that fit in Ridnour, Jones, Bracey, Jackson and center Julius Hicks. The fivesome accounted for 78 of Oregon’s 85 points, as each scored in double figures.
That group sparked the Ducks to a 31-17 lead at the 5:27 mark of the first half. But then a 13-1 Washington run propelled the Huskies into the halftime break only down 36-33.
“I think we got a little fatigued and they got the momentum,” Kent said. “But the key thing was we went right back out there and bumped it up in the second half and kept control here on the road.”
Now the Ducks return home to McArthur Court to play the L.A. schools in their final homestand of the season. It will be a tough weekend that will go a long way toward determining whether Oregon receives an invitation to the NIT or whether it gets shut out from postseason play for the first time since 1998.
After Saturday’s win, the consensus around the Oregon locker room was that this team had finally arrived.
“This feels great to get a win… finally,” Jackson said. “We haven’t been getting that many breaks all season, and now we’re breaking out of our shell a little bit. We’re all clicking and we’re going to head in a different direction now.”
Added Kent: “Sometimes different teams take different paths to get there and we’ve been down in this rut for awhile, but the key thing is that they’ve stayed with me.”