Fifteen games into the schedule, the Oregon men got their first conference win Saturday.
But how exactly did they do it?
It was a combination of several things that all happened to go right at the same time for the first time since the Pacific-10 Conference season started on Jan. 2. The Emerald tried to break down some of the most important aspects of Saturday’s win here, looking at some of the parts that will have to go right again to pick up conference win No. 2.
“We played great tonight as a team by making plays we hadn’t been making,” junior forward Joevan Catron said afterward.
Stopping Stanford
Oregon is the worst team in the league when it comes to allowing points, giving up an average of 76 per game, and is usually outscored by opponents by eight points per game. Stanford was held to 60 points, its second-lowest allowed total in Pac-10 play this season.
The key to holding Stanford to 60 points was not allowing the Cardinal to shoot well. In fact, Stanford’s 39-percent shooting percentage was the lowest the Ducks have allowed since allowing Saint Mary’s to shoot 39 percent on Dec. 17, and is nine percentage points better than their season average. To begin with, the Cardinal aren’t a very good shooting team, averaging 46 percent per game, eighth-best in the league. Yes, Oregon allowed Stanford’s best shooters Landry Fields and Lawrence Hill to shoot 50 percent each from the field, continuing a trend that has allowed opposing teams’ stars to have career days against Oregon this season (see Washington State’s Taylor Rochestie and Arizona State’s James Harden).
Everyone else, however, had a tough day, with Anthony Goods averaging 15.7 points per game, the seventh-best average in the league, held to 2-of-7 shooting from the field, and scoring 10 of his 16 points from the free throw line.
Oregon also beat its average in steals per game, none of which were bigger than freshman guard Matthew Humphrey’s steal on a Mitch Johnson pass with less than 10 seconds remaining.
On its own offensive end, Oregon didn’t do anything new. It met its average of 68 points per game, which is better than three other teams in the league. The Ducks did flop their points per game margin, however, going from an average of an eight-point loss to an eight-point win.
Cutting the turnovers, adding assists
One of the hallmarks of this Oregon team has been its aversion to taking care of the basketball. On Saturday, Oregon changed that, giving up a season-low eight turnovers, seven less than its season average. Fewer turnovers meant the Ducks had more possessions and a chance to end with a shot instead of Stanford running the other way with the ball.
All season Oregon has struggled with keeping its assists number more than its turnovers, with a .8 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for dead last in the Pac-10. As with everything else on Saturday, the Ducks improved, dishing out 14 assists and pointing the ratio in the right way for a win. It’s not unusual for the Ducks to have as many as 14 assists in a game – they’ve done it 14 times – but combining that with the focus to stay away from unnecessary turnovers made all the difference. In those 13 other games when Oregon passed for 14 assists, its record is 4-9.
The Ducks are 5-3 when they have more assists than their opposing team, and Oregon is 2-0 when they have more assists and fewer turnovers than their opponents in a game.
When the Cardinal turned the ball over, Oregon made them pay. The Ducks outscored Stanford 18-8 on points off turnovers. Assists and turnovers, two of the most crucial aspects of Oregon’s season so far, relied on total team focus, junior guard Tajuan Porter said.
“Everybody stepped up,” he said.
Controlling the game inside
Oregon is not a good rebounding team, only having out-rebounded teams eight times this season, and ranks last in the league on the defensive glass, although they have the second-best offensive rebounds per game.
Just how Oregon keeps the ball for better possessions when they don’t allow turnovers, an offensive rebound means an extra possession on offense and is another shot at a score. Catron’s offensive rebound, one of the team’s 13, after freshman forward Josh Crittle’s missed free throw with 23 seconds left Saturday allowed Oregon to get the ball into Porter’s hands, where he was fouled and made both free throws. Oregon went from a three-point lead to a secure five-point lead because of the rebound.
Although Oregon was still out-rebounded Saturday, it scored 32 points in the paint compared to Stanford’s 14. Maybe most importantly, when Oregon got second chances on offense it scored often, getting 24 points in that category compared to a meager six by the Cardinal.
Oregon’s three inside players had something to do with that. Crittle and freshman center Michael Dunigan scored eight and 14 points, respectively, while grabbing 13 total rebounds.
“Mike and Josh have the chance to be the best pair of big men in the conference for a long time and I think they showed a lot of that potential tonight,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.
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