In many ways, Saturday’s blowout loss to the Stanford Cardinal exemplified the five-year career of senior forward Joevan Catron.
Oregon surged out to an 8-0 lead early, turned over the lead a few minutes later, and with the help of a strong shooting night from Stanford, the Ducks were outmatched down the stretch.
As the last remaining member of Oregon’s 2006-07 Elite Eight squad, Catron is arguably the most experienced player in the league, having overcome more than his fair share of injuries to make Saturday a possibility.
While it certainly wasn’t the farewell they were hoping for, Catron and fellow senior Jay-R Strowbridge played their final game in Eugene this weekend.
Saturday’s contest was the 122nd career game for Catron, a fifth-year senior out of Phoenix, Ill. In his 83rd start, a 88-71 loss to the Cardinal, youth simply outlasted experience.
“That’s not how Senior Day’s supposed to go,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “I feel really bad for Joevan and Jay-R.”
Though Catron has finished in double-figures 20 times this season, Cardinal freshman Dwight Powell seemed to have his number from the opening tip. Powell, a 6-foot-9 product from Toronto, disrupted Catron offensively throughout the game, holding the senior to just eight points and two rebounds.
Catron gave an emotional goodbye to the few thousand fans left in attendance after the final buzzer sounded, thanking the Oregon fans for sticking with him through all the injuries over the past five years.
“We wanted to get them a big win tonight,” freshman point guard Johnathan Loyd said. “I felt terrible that we couldn’t do that for Jay-R and Joevan. We felt horrible that we couldn’t get them a win on their way out.”
But on Saturday, even a healthy Catron had little influence on a game that Stanford dominated in all facets. The Cardinal shot better than 59 percent from the field, including a 65.2 percent mark in the second half.
“We weren’t flying around on defense so they kind of got a lot of open shots,” said Loyd, who finished with 11 points in 16 minutes. “And they’re good players so they’re going to knock ’em down. Easy baskets fuel a team and that’s what we did; they got little tip-ins and wide open threes and they just fed off that.”
Powell and Stanford junior Josh Owens controlled the paint with relative ease as they combined to block seven Duck shots, giving the Cardinal an 8-1 edge in the category. Owens led all scorers with 31 points on 12-for-15 shooting, to go along with 11 rebounds and four blocks.
“Josh Owens was a big factor inside (Saturday),” Altman said. “He made shots and got the boards, which were the deciding factors. Anytime someone gets 31-11, they dominated the game, and he definitely did.”
Anthony Brown (12), Jeremy Green (15) and Aaron Bright (13) also finished in double-figures for the Cardinal.
Strowbridge had a decent offensive showing, leading the Oregon reserves with 16 points on 3-for-5 shooting from behind the three-point line. The senior guard from Huntsville, Ala., has quickly grown into a fan favorite during his one year with Ducks, after spending his freshman and sophomore seasons at Nebraska and junior year at Jacksonville State.
Having played in all 28 games this season, Strowbridge continued to shoot well against the Cardinal, reaching double-figures for the seventh time in the last 10 games. Strowbridge scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, but admitted Oregon didn’t have the defensive focus down the stretch to mount a comeback.
“As a team we’ve just got to get back to the basics,” Strowbridge said. “Me personally, I think sometimes you can’t just give in to success. (We have to) lock down defensively, go back to work Monday and get ready for Arizona State.”
Strowbridge, Loyd and junior Malcolm Armstead combined to score 49 of Oregon’s 71 total points, with Armstead recording a season-high 22 points to go along with six assists and five steals.
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