The Ducks continued their early season win streak with a 74-64 victory against the San Francisco Dons on Wednesday night, improving their record to 5-1 on the year.
The Dons, who beat No. 4 Virginia earlier in the season, weren’t originally scheduled to play the Ducks. Oregon was supposed to face off against USC, but COVID cases within the program caused the Trojans to cancel.
The Dons gameplan in the first half mirrored their playstyle thus far on the young season: let the guards push the ball quickly and penetrate the paint before kicking it out to the wings on the perimeter for three.
The game plan worked early as the Dons came out firing from deep led by Taavi Jurkatamm who led the team with 13 first-half on 4/4 from the field.
Oregon started slowly on the offensive side of the ball. San Francisco’s strong perimeter defense tamed the Ducks attack which had been picking up steam over the past
few games. With ten minutes left in the first half, the score was knotted at 18.
“We need to come out with more intensity,” senior Amauri Hardy said. “We gotta be more prepared out the gates.”
The Ducks made a pair of adjustments midway through the first half that changed the course of the game.
On the offensive side, they took advantage of their athleticism and size over USF by dominating in the paint with Eugene Omoruyi and Eric Williams Jr. leading the way. The two led the team in the first half with ten and seven points respectively.
On the defensive end, the Ducks threw the Dons off their rhythm with head coach Dana Altman’s patented full-court press. The relentless Ducks defense caused a five-minute scoreless stretch from the Dons, and nine first-half turnovers.
The Ducks took advantage, pulling out to a 41-31 led at halftime.
USF changed it up in the second half by coming out in a zone rather than man. This change from head coach Todd Golden was to slow down Oregon’s scoring in the paint and to force them to shoot the three.
The Ducks defense continued to outshine USF’s by holding the Dons scoreless in the first 5:45 of the second half. The Ducks went on an 11-0 run during this stretch, getting players like Chris Duarte and Chandler Lawson involved.
“In the Washington game, we let them get their rhythm going out of the half,” said Altman. “We couldn’t let that happen again.”
As the Ducks’ lead ballooned to 22, the Dons showed why they’re second in the nation in three-pointers made. Khalil Shabazz and Jamaree Bouyea, who were quiet in the first half, finally made their presence felt.
The Dons went 4-7 from downtown with just under nine minutes left in the second half cutting the lead down to six with under three minutes left to play. This is the second time in the young season that the Ducks have allowed their opponent to crawl back into the game after being up 15-plus points in the second half.
“I think they got tired towards the end,” Altman said. “We had experienced players making bad plays late. Maybe I have to use my bench more and give my starters more rest. That’s on me.”
The Ducks turned to their polished veterans, Duarte and Omoruyi, in crunchtime to manage the clock and take care of the ball. Despite the impressive comeback for the Dons, it was too little, too late as the Ducks polished off the 74-64 victory.
Omoruyi and Williams Jr. led the way for the Ducks as they both continued their impressive seasons, finishing with 19 and 16, respectively.
The Ducks will look to make it six in a row, and keep their momentum rolling ahead of Pac-12 play, against the University of Portland on Saturday at noon in Matthew Knight Arena.
