After a tough loss to Washington last Thursday, Kenny Wooten had a long conversation with NBA Champion and ESPN color commentator Bill Walton.
“He was just talking to me about how I was one of the greatest athletes he’s seen, and how I wasn’t making the most of my opportunities on offense,” Wooten said. “So I decided to watch a little bit of him, and I started watching a lot of post work, stuff that he told me to look up.”
The advice paid off for Wooten, who tied his career high with 20 points, shooting 8-10 for the game coming off the bench. His performance helped Oregon (12-8, 3-4) expose Washington State’s (8-12, 1-6) defense, the worst in the Pac-12 in terms of points per game, which led to a 78-58 Oregon win.
However, Washington State played some of its most efficient basketball of the season in the first half. Both teams started the game hot, combing for 9-11 shooting, and Oregon had three 3-pointers within the first five minutes. But Washington State kept up the pace, while Oregon could not. The Cougars finished the first half in 77 percent shooting, going 17-22, and held Oregon to only four points off Washington State’s seven turnovers. By the end of the game Oregon flipped the script, earning 22 points off turnovers while forcing 17 on defense.
The second half was a much different story for both teams. The Cougars shot 33 percent in the second half, largely due to Oregon’s defense on their two best players, Robert Franks and CJ. Elleby, who were 11-13 in the first half but just 3-12 in the second.
“We weren’t surprised that they could score,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Our communication was bad in transition, on switches, our activity and deflection numbers were way down.”
Oregon sealed the win by forcing Washington State into contested threes, and scoring in transition. Fueled by Pritchard’s career-high six steals, and Louis King tying his career-high 22 points, the Ducks went on a 16-2 run over six minutes, scoring with multiple 3-pointers and layups in transition.
In the first half, the Ducks had trouble keeping players out of the paint. The Cougars took advantage of lax defense to find cutting players often. Elleby notched 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assist, and at times Oregon had no answer for both him and Franks (19 points).
Oregon’s offense stalled at the end of the first half, going scoreless for nearly four minutes, while Washington State when on a 6-0 run, and took a 39-35 lead into halftime.
Wooten and King were effective because of the court vision by Pritchard and Will Richardson, who combined for 14 assists and no turnovers.
“That’s what we’ve been needing lately, and I think they handled the ball well and made plays for others,” Ehab Amin said. “They shot the ball extremely well, so that opens up the floor for Kenny inside.”
Oregon will travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes this Thursday.
Follow August Howell on Twitter@howell_august
