An aggressive veteran Arizona basketball team showed Oregon why it’s the top team in the Pacific-10 Conference, as the No. 11 Wildcats pounded the Ducks 92-67 on Thursday night at the McKale Center in Tucson.
Arizona (22-4 overall,
12-2 Pac-10) was ignited by its veteran players, led by the strong effort of Portland native Salim Stoudamire. The senior led all scorers with 22 points, including 4 of 6 three-pointers.
Wildcat center Channing Frye chipped in 19 points and added five rebounds and seven blocked shots in the victory.
“They’ve been playing some great basketball of late,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told
590 KUGN. “We just got run over by a team that is playing well.”
Despite shooting 50 percent from the field, Oregon (4-9,
12-10) was plagued by 19 turnovers, which helped Arizona put up 16 more shots in the game. The Wildcats shot 52
percent from the field.
Arizona used an explosive second half to accumulate its large advantage. The Wildcats went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to give them a 17-point advantage at 68-51.
“We probably played good basketball for about 28 minutes this game, but unfortunately there is 40 minutes in a game,” Kent said. “We had an eight-minute stretch where we didn’t play very well and they
capitalized on it.”
Keeping Oregon somewhat close was the play of freshman Malik Hairston. The swingman led the Ducks with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
Fellow freshman Bryce Taylor also played well for the Ducks, scoring 15 points, including 3 of 6 from behind the three-point arc, and two blocked shots.
“I thought the freshman played very well for us tonight,” Kent said. “Malik played well and did some good things for us. I told Bryce he still left about 10 points on the floor if he would run on the wings like Luke (Jackson) and Freddie (Jones) used to do.”
Oregon kept it close in the first half and led 11-8 with a chance to build on it when Aaron Brooks threw away a pass on a four-on-one break for the Ducks. Brooks struggled with turnovers all night, committing a season-high 10 to go along with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Despite the turnovers, Oregon still led 21-18 after Brooks hit a three-pointer, but the Wildcats pulled ahead to end the half, capped off by a Stoudamire three-pointer as time expired giving them a 43-34 advantage at the break.
“We played an excellent first half, except letting Stoudamire get open for that three,” Kent said.
Also playing well for the Wildcats was another Portland native. Chris Rodgers hit some key three-pointers and made great passes in his
11-point, nine-assist performance against the Ducks.
Oregon travels to Tempe, Ariz., next to take on Arizona State in a game that could help the Ducks out of ninth place in the conference, a position that would keep them out of the eight-team Pac-10 Tournament. A win against the Sun Devils would bring Oregon within half a game of the coveted eighth-place spot.
The Sun Devils are coming off a 75-73 victory Thursday night against Oregon State and are now 6-8 in
the conference.
The game against the Sun Devils tips off at 4 p.m. at the Wells
Fargo Arena.
No. 11 Arizona hammers Oregon in 92-67 blowout
Daily Emerald
February 17, 2005
Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic, left, and Channing Frye defend Oregon’s Aaron Brooks’ shot during the Wildcats’ 92-67 victory over the Ducks on Thursday at the McKale Center.
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