Portland State was in the zone Saturday night — on defense.
Oregon’s newcomers were also in the zone — on offense.
The Ducks battled through a stingy Vikings zone defense in the first half, and then rode the coattails of their four freshman in the second half en route to a 84-66 victory in front of 7,471 fans at McArthur Court.
The win pushed Oregon’s early season record to 3-0, and provided head coach Ernie Kent with another game to evaluate in his building project of the 2000-01 Ducks.
“I was very pleased and impressed with the effort that was put forth on that floor tonight,” Kent said. “This was a good game for us because as a team we got better.”
Oregon’s four freshmen all recorded career highs in points with forward Luke Jackson leading the way with a team-high 13 points.
“We’re still gelling as a team,” said Jackson, who is a Creswell native. “Everyone is going to come in and have a good night, and whoever does it, everyone on the team is happy for them. We just want to get the win.”
The Ducks stressed defense in their practices last week after giving up 90 points in their road victory against Denver last Tuesday. The hard work paid dividends in the first half, as Portland State scored just 22 points. However, the Ducks could only muster 31 points in the opening half themselves due to the tight PSU zone defense, which forced 18 Oregon three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes.
Kent said he was surprised the Vikings played so much zone, but he helped his team make the right adjustments at the break. The Ducks struck quickly in the second half on a Bryan Bracey jumper and a Luke Ridnour trey. It would be the start of a 23-3 run that was capped by a Flo Hartenstein layin at the 9:55 mark to extend the Oregon margin to 54-25.
The Ducks took their largest lead of the game with 4:46 remaining, after Jackson drained back-to-back three-pointers to give his team the 71-38 lead. Jackson scored all 13 of his points in the second half.
The Vikings would rally in the closing minutes and close within 15 at one point, while outscoring the Ducks 28-13 in the final 4:30.
“In the end, we turned up the pressure a little bit, but I think by then they may have relaxed,” Portland State head coach Joel Sobotka said. “Oregon is talented and they’re going to be a better team in January and February than they are right now. They have new faces to feel their way around and those two Lukes are going to get better.”
Freshman point guard Ridnour recorded career highs in points (12) and assists (9), while fellow freshman guard James Davis finished with 10 points. Freshman center Jay Anderson had four points, three rebounds and a block in 16 solid minutes of play.
Oregon shot 46.8 percent from the field after a dismal nine-for-28 showing in the first half (32.1 percent). The Ducks drilled 13 of 31 from beyond the arc, falling two shy of tying the team record for most threes in a game.
Oregon didn’t score its first two-point bucket until the 5:12 mark of the first half when Ridnour threw an alley-oop pass to guard Freddie Jones, who slammed home two of his 12 points.
The Ducks didn’t seem too concerned afterward about their sporadic offensive and defensive lapses throughout the game.
“The important thing is that we keep getting better,” senior center Julius Hicks said. “As long as we win, I could care less. The offense will take care of itself.”
Oregon gets right back at it Tuesday night at McArthur Court when it finishes off the Portland combo with a visit from the Portland Pilots.
“There’s going to be nights [where] we’re going to be up and look great, and there’s going to be nights that we’re going to look down,” Kent said. “But that’s OK, because we have so much growth potential in this team.”