With a chance to move to fifth place in the Pac-12, Oregon men’s basketball (15-11, 6-7 Pac-12) was unable to get the job done against USC (15-12, 8-6 Pac-12), Thursday night in Los Angeles. Oregon now moves down to eight place in the Pac-12 following their 66-49 loss.
Both the Ducks and Trojans had poor offensive starts, until Paul White was able to score five quick points putting the Ducks up 7-2 early in the game.
Following Oregon’s early lead, the Ducks were unable to muster any offense for the remainder of the first half. The offense finished the first half shooting 10-of-32 from the field and 3-of-11 from beyond the arch. Despite seven Ducks contributing with scoring, Oregon still trailed by five points going into halftime.
Oregon, only trailing by five, was unable to find their offensive side in the second half. The Ducks couldn’t counter the likes of forwards Bennie Boatwright Jr., who finished the game with 20-points on 6-of-9 from the 3-point line, and Nick Rakocevic, who was a presence down low and finished with 17 points.
Boatwright caught fire from the 3-point arch and Oregon was unable to respond to USC’s early scoring run, which put the Ducks out of the game.
Freshman Louis King, who didn’t practice earlier this week with an injury on his shooting hand, led the team with 16 points. Kenny Wooten, who did not play against USC the first time around due to a broken jaw, was non-existent tonight against USC. Wooten finished the game with only two points and four turnovers.
Oregon will look to rebound against the UCLA Bruins, who the Ducks suffered a heartbreaking loss to earlier in conference play, on Sat. Feb 23 from Pauley Pavilion
Follow Gabriel on Twitter @gabe_ornelas