The game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated Tuesday night at McArthur Court, where a crowd of 8,331 watched Oregon (3-0) defeat Pacific (3-1) 84-62.
It quickly turned into a rout, surprising not only the crowd but both teams. Oregon players said coach Ernie Kent hyped them up beforehand, while Kent said he was solely challenging the team.
“We kind of thought we were playing against Illinois tonight,” said Oregon’s Malik Hairston, who scored a game-high 17 points.
Hustle on defense led to an edge in rebounds, turnovers and overall shooting – the Ducks shot better than 55 percent from the floor and the Tigers struggled to make barely more than 36 percent. The hustle, intensity and victory against a quality opponent pleased Kent.
“The thing I did was challenge them,” Kent said. “In terms of hyping it, it was a challenge for us to up our mental, to play a tougher opponent, and I thought they did a great job of doing that.”
Pacific, which won the Big West Conference with an 18-0 record, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. The Tigers also posted a 27-4 overall record, numbers that caught the Ducks’ eyes.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s first two opponents were unable to score more than 80 combined points, something Oregon has done in every game this season. So it was set up as the marquee game, but that only lasted for the first minute and a half – the only time Oregon trailed as a
three-pointer by Mike Webb gave Pacific a 5-3 lead. The Ducks then went on an 18-3 run over the next six minutes to build a double-digit lead that they never relinquished.
“The biggest thing is, I think transition-wise we were able to get going,” Kent said. “When we can get out and run, it just puts us into such a great rhythm because we have so many weapons on this team.”
Perhaps the most impact of the game was on the defensive end, where the Ducks’ held Christian Maraker, Pacific’s leading scorer and rebounder, to 16 points and two rebounds.
Oregon’s Maarty Leunen, who was named tournament MVP after recording his first career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds), had the job of guarding Maraker early.
“We just had to play physical with him, full-front, make it tough for him to get the ball,” Leunen said. “Most of their offense is run to get him the ball, or through him … so coach put it upon me to shut him down.”
Maraker didn’t score for the first 11 minutes of the game and shot only 10 times from the field. He was perfect from the free-throw line in eight attempts.
“I don’t think they did a lot to stop Christian,” Pacific coach Bob Thomason said. “I think Christian did a lot to stop himself. I mean he could have went out and got 24, 25 (points), but he wasn’t aggressive tonight. That’s something that we’ve constantly worked on with him.”
Bryce Taylor scored 16 points and Ivan Johnson added 14 for the Ducks.
Taylor and Hairston joined Leunen on the All-tournament team. Pacific’s Johnny Gray and Maraker were also voted to the team along with Bowie State’s Derick Payne.
The Ducks host Rice on Saturday at 2 p.m. before Oregon’s first road game of the season at Vanderbilt on Nov. 30.

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