Oregon came into its contest at the Haas Pavillon Thursday night riding a six-game winning streak and atop the Pac-12 standings. The team even was listed by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg as a sleeper to make the Final Four due to its consistent play as of late.
But, all of that came crashing down quickly against Cal. The Golden Bears jumped out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back, dominating the Ducks in the paint throughout, en route to a 83-63 win.
Cal’s Jabari Bird led all scorers with 24, and nothing Oregon tried on defense could stop him. But, it oftentimes didn’t matter if the Bears couldn’t convert on their first shot of each possession. The team out-rebounded the Ducks 39-26 and scored an unprecedented 27 second chance points.
Oregon never challenged in this one and was down by as many as 25 in the second half. Dillon Brooks scored 17 points on 50 percent shooting and Chris Boucher added 11. However, starters Tyler Dorsey, Casey Benson and Elgin Cook combined for just 13 points.
In addition, Cook had just two rebounds and Benjamin had just one. Head coach Dana Altman said has consistently pointed to the rebounds stat category after both wins and losses, and once again, it proved to be the most indicative reason why Thursday night’s tilt turned heavily in Cal’s favor.
In addition to Bird’s production, Cal’s dynamic freshman — Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb — combined for 29 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Rabb missed just one of his seven shots.
Oregon remains atop the Pac-12 standings despite the loss but its AP ranking may take a hit. The Ducks will play Stanford this Saturday.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise