SPOKANE, Wash. — The Oregon Ducks started out their Pac-12 Conference season in dominant fashion, taking a 20-point halftime lead and turning it into an eventual 92-75 win over the Washington State Cougars Thursday night at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash. The Cougars never led in the game and fell behind by as many as 22 points early in the second half before closing the gap well after the game was decided.
For the Ducks (10-3, 1-0 Pac-12), no player was more dominant than senior forward Olu Ashaolu, who recorded a season-high 19 points in the first half, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds in the team’s first double-double of the season.
“My teammates did a good job of getting the ball to me,” Ashaolu said. “Guys did a good job of finding me, so thanks to me, but thanks to them.”
Junior forward E.J. Singler and senior guard Devoe Joseph also had superlative games for the Ducks, with the former getting 13 points and eight rebounds and the latter finishing with 17 points and a career-high seven assists.
“I was just excited with Pac-12 season coming in,” Joseph said. “We’re not rated at the top of the conference, but we just wanted to go out there and prove a point from the beginning and get this thing started.”
As a team, Oregon had myriad offensive achievements, including a 69.4 percent field-goal percentage, the team’s first performance above 60 percent since 2007. The Ducks’ 92 points were a season-high and their 54 first-half points equaled the team’s total in its last loss, Dec. 18 to Virginia.
“The two things we asked them to focus on tonight was just getting that ball moving around and making plays for each other, and rebounding,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We were plus-12 on the boards and were much better tonight at ball movement than what we’ve been.”
Washington State (8-4, 0-1 Pac-12) was unable to overcome a poor night from second-leading scorer and top rebounder Brock Motum, as the senior center from Australia finished with 12 points and five rebounds. The only standout players for the Cougars were freshman shooting guard Davonte Lacy, who hit five three-pointers in the first half and ended up with 19 points before fouling out, and junior point guard Reggie Moore, who had 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
As a team, the Cougars shot 9 for 21 from three-point range, exploiting the perimeter defense of an Oregon team that was one of the worst in the country against three-point shooting a year ago.
“If they’re going to take 21 threes, that’s not a problem for us,” Altman said. “Our defense has to get better on the perimeter, and defensively, the second half, I felt we let down a little bit.”
Ashaolu was not the only Oregon bench player to find success, as freshman guard Brett Kingma set a career high with three three-pointers in the first half and finished with nine points and two assists in 14 minutes.
Oregon senior guard Garrett Sim finished a perfect 4 of 4 from the field and was the last of four Ducks in double figures with 12 points.
Oregon’s next game is Saturday against Washington in Seattle, while Washington State will host Oregon State in Spokane on Saturday as well. The Huskies defeated the Beavers 95-80 in Seattle, with freshman guard Tony Wroten leading his team to victory by scoring 26 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Oregon Ducks blow by Washington State Cougars in 92-75 rout
Kenny Ocker
December 28, 2011
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