Despite taking an 11-point halftime lead, the
Oregon men’s basketball team fell apart in the second half, losing 81-71 to California Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
With the loss, Oregon dropped to 14-13 overall and 7-8 in Pacific-10 Conference play, while Cal improved to 15-13 overall and 8-8 against
conference opponents.
Oregon led the majority of the first half by double digits as the team connected on 57.1 percent of their field goals (20-for-35), but the Ducks’ offensive pace slowed dramatically after intermission as their lead began to dwindle.
“We gave up what I think are momentum-type baskets to start the second half,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “And I really thought that changed the game. The tip-ins, offensive rebounds, the easy lay ups on turnovers I thought really changed the momentum of the game.”
Both teams finished the game with 12 giveaways, but eight of Oregon’s came in the second half and Cal junior Jorge Gutierrez took advantage. After a career-high 34-point showing against UCLA on Sunday, Gutierrez scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
With Cal taking a 17-11 rebounding edge in the second half, it was clear that Oregon wasn’t going to be able to mount a comeback as Gutierrez
continued to find teammates in transition.
Senior forward Joevan Catron said games are
always won and lost in the paint.
“If we don’t rebound, more often than not we come out on the wrong end of the game,” Catron said. “It’s been that way throughout the whole season. (Thursday) we got outrebounded so we came up short.”
For his part, Catron scored 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting, while pulling down a game-high seven rebounds in his 31 minutes
of action.
Junior Teondre Williams spiked a shot of life into the Ducks with an athletic rebound put-back to tie the game at 65 with 4:13 remaining, but Cal’s Brandon Smith connected on a three-pointer seconds later to silence a resurging home crowd.
Smith, a sophomore from San Ramon, Calif., used a 4-for-5 showing from distance to finish with 18 points and also dished out six assists. Freshman Allen Crabbe added 19 points and three assists, including a pair of free throws in the final 90
seconds to help seal the victory.
“We were rushing things on offense, and they was turning it into points on the other end, so that killed us,” Oregon junior Tyrone Nared said, who led the Ducks with a career-high 16 points and a pair of highlight
reel dunks.
It was all Nared in the first half, however, as he put up nine quick points to help Oregon make a 16-5 run and go ahead by double digits for the first time with more than 12 minutes to go.
“I think our execution was not up to par in the second half,” Catron said. “We (played) kind of lax, standing straight up, because of that we couldn’t execute what Coach wanted us
to run.”
“The zone got us
standing around in the second half, and our ball movement wasn’t good,” he said. “We didn’t bend our knees and attack it.”
Oregon will get one more chance to send Catron and fellow senior Jay-R Strowbridge out with a win against Stanford on Saturday at 3 p.m. at
Knight Arena.
“I think I’m the first player in Oregon history to have two senior nights,” Catron said with a smirk, having participated in last year’s senior day. “It’s definitely going to be emotional. I love this place; it’s been a very significant part to my life, and you know I’m gonna hate to see it go.”
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