Judging by Oregon’s Pacific-10 Conference resume so far, Saturday’s performance against California in Berkeley, Calif., was encouraging for its improved execution after being blown out against Stanford two nights before.
But for the Ducks (6-14, 0-8 Pac-10) it’s still a loss, one that keeps its dire march toward the school record of 0-11 to start the league schedule from 1992-93 very much alive.
Cal guard Jerome Randle made sure of it, scoring 22 points with five assists despite a hip injury from his previous game and enabled three other teammates to score in double figures as the Golden Bears (16-4, 5-2) won 76-69 at Haas Pavilion, breaking their three-game losing streak to Oregon.
“I was trying hard not to think about the pain, so I just tried to play through and move around,” Randle said.
Oregon’s Tajuan Porter was equally as potent offensively, scoring a game-high 26 points as the Ducks shot 44 percent from the field in one of its best shooting performances so far during the Pac-10 season. Porter shot 50 percent from three, making five of Oregon’s six total three-pointers on the afternoon.
But the lack of help from the rest of the team was Oregon’s undoing. Only Porter cracked double figures in points, with Joevan Catron and Michael Dunigan’s nine points tied for the team’s second-best mark. Catron also led the team with eight rebounds, six offensively.
Outscored 36-28 at the half, the Ducks’ outscoring of the Golden Bears 41-40 in the second half was part of why Oregon head coach Ernie Kent left the Bay Area with more of an optimistic outlook than he did two nights before after Stanford’s 22-point thumping of Oregon.
After losing to Oregon State despite making 10 three-pointers on Thursday, Cal focused more of its impact closer to the hoop. The Bears attempted only eight three-pointers, making three. It didn’t seem to matter much where Cal shot, however – its 66.7 shooting percentage was the highest of any Pac-10 game so far this season, less than two percent off its school record.
More than Cal’s shooting percentage, Oregon’s missed opportunities at its own offensive end irked Kent afterward.
“When a team shoots 67 percent at home, I go back and think of all the missed layups and free throws in the first half,” Kent said. “All you can do is put kids in position to do that and there is going to come a time when those young kids are going to finish the plays.”
Oregon will have an extra day to prepare for its visit to Oregon State on Saturday, and it’s looking like that could be a good thing. The Beavers swept Cal and Stanford on the road this weekend for the first time since the 1992-93 season, and now have three Pac-10 wins a year after going winless for the first time in the conference’s history.
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Ducks 0-8, but showing improvement
Daily Emerald
January 24, 2009
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