Without one of the nation’s leading scorers, the Eastern Washington Eagles (5-6) were unable to keep pace with the No. 22 Oregon Ducks (9-0), falling 100-74 Friday at McArthur Court.
Sophomore guard Rodney Stuckey came into Friday night’s game averaging 26.7 points per game. However, Stuckey had to leave the game after just over four minutes because of back spasms that had been bothering him all day, Eagles head coach Mike Burns said. The nation’s third best scorer finished with only two points in his limited time.
The Ducks led 14-9 when Stuckey left the court. They extended that to nine by the half. The home team went into the locker room leading 46-37, led by junior guard Bryce Taylor’s 14 point first half on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.
Oregon opened the second period with a 13-2 run, sparked by seven points from freshman guard Tajuan Porter. Porter finished with 10 points on the night.
The point guard’s playing time in the second half was limited by a toe injury on his left foot.
Taylor led all scorers with a season-high 24 points on 80 percent shooting from the field. As a team the Ducks improved on their 54.1 percent first half field goal percentage by shooting 68 percent in the second.
Oregon finished the night with its best shooting percentage of the season at 59.7 percent. Oregon coach Ernie Kent and his players indicated that shooting has become a primary focus in practice. Kent said he hopes to get 1000 shots a day from each of his players next week.
“It was a matter of time for us to just start knocking them down and shooting with confidence continuously,” junior Malik Hairston said.
In his fourth game back from a groin injury, Hairston scored a season-high 20 points.
Senior Aaron Brooks joined an elite group of 25 Oregon basketball players to reach 1000 career-points with a three-point basket early into the first half. Brooks ended the night with 16 points and a team-high 5 assists.
Brooks was focused on the road ahead more than his own accolades.
“[1000 career points] is a great individual goal, but right now we are trying to win basketball games,” Brooks said. “We hadn’t really been doing that the last couple of years, so that’s our focus.”
In the absence of their leading scorer, Eastern Washington turned to senior Paul Butorac and freshman Michael Taylor. The pair scored 16 and 14 points, respectively.
The Ducks face another Big Sky Conference foe Sunday at 5 p.m. when Idaho State visits “The Pit.” Friday night’s victory sends the Ducks into their game with the Bengals 9-0 for just the seventh time in school history. Oregon is one of eight Division I programs that are still undefeated.
“We got psyched up for Eastern Washington, but we have to have the intensity up for Idaho State too,” Brooks said.
Injury Updates
Along with Porter’s toe injury, junior Ray Schafer left the game in the second half with a cut to his head. Schafer did return to the court after receiving medical attention. Senior Adrian Stelly sat out of another game for the Ducks with tendonitis in his knee, Kent said. Junior Chamberlain Oguchi is expected to miss 3-4 more weeks because of the sprained ankle he suffered against Georgetown.