Missouri head coach Mike Anderson told his team, following the No. 9 Tigers’ 83-80 win over Oregon on Thursday night, that playing one good half does not equal playing a good game.
E.J. Singler could certainly attest — particularly after an uncharacteristically quiet first half.
The sophomore from Medford was 0-for-4 from the field with two points, four rebounds, a block, a steal and two turnovers after 20 minutes.
The Ducks had fallen behind Missouri, 44-24, and the game looked to be yet another lost effort.
“Terrible,” Singler said.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the third loss of the season: Oregon woke up in a big way in the second half.
“I think we showed a little bit of what our capabilities are,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said.
Singler hit his first field goal of the game, a three-pointer, on the Ducks’ first possession of the second half.
Later on, he scored five points in a 42-second span, part of a 17-5 run that kept Oregon in contention.
“He did a good job. He made some good shots for them,” Anderson said. “I thought we lost him on some screen-and-rolls. We should have been switching, and he got open.”
Singler’s three-pointer with 13:30 remaining in the game cut the deficit to 49-41 and energized the crowd of 6,843 at McArthur Court. Oregon had not previously been within double digits of the Tigers since the 10:26 mark of the first half. The score at the time was 18-8.
“He and Joevan got us going (in the second half),” Altman said.
“Oregon came out in the second half, and they just didn’t go away. They fought hard,” said Missouri guard Michael Dixon, whose big free-throw shooting night (9-of-10) helped ice the game for the Tigers.
Singler’s second-half stat line: 17 points, 7-of-8 shooting, five rebounds and two assists. His 19 points and nine rebounds were both team highs.
Much better.
But it was hardly a consolation for Singler.
“We were just rushing it in the first half, just not playing as a team and not executing our offense plays,” he said. “We fell short. At the end of the day, it’s a win-loss, and we came out with a loss. I think we could’ve beat them by 22 if we played good in the first half.”
Williams, Jacob out
The wounded Ducks added two more names to the injury list before playing the Tigers.
Forward Jeremy Jacob, bothered by injuries all season, sat out against Missouri with what was termed a re-aggravated knee injury. Wing player Teondre Williams also watched the game in street clothes after suffering a concussion.
In place of Williams, senior guard Jay-R Strowbridge made the first start of his Oregon career. Strowbridge was one of three Ducks — with Joevan Catron and Johnathan Loyd — with 15 points in the game.
Ducks add Said
Just hours before tip-off, the Oregon men’s basketball team added a 15th player to its roster.
Shamsu Said, who will wear uniform No. 5 for the Ducks, is a sophomore guard from Seattle. He played high school basketball at Seattle Prep and was a teammate of current Oregon guard Nicholas Fearn.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Said (pronounced sigh-EED) did not play against Missouri.
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Ducks overcome first-half struggles, but fall to No. 9 Missouri
Daily Emerald
December 2, 2010
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