SEATTLE — The Oregon men’s basketball team entered Thursday’s showdown against No. 14 Washington with a huge question waiting to be answered.
How would the youthful Ducks handle their first Pacific-10 Conference road game of the season?
The answer: not well.
Washington played with more hunger from the
opening tip and buried
Oregon 77-56 in front of 10,000 fans at Bank of
America Arena.
The Huskies (14-2 overall, 4-1 Pac-10) jumped out to a 12-0 advantage and built a 25-5 lead 10 minutes into the first half. The Ducks were beaten to every loose ball, played hesitantly on offense and appeared intimidated by Washington’s aggressiveness and its raucous sellout crowd.
“We didn’t respond early to the pressure defense that (Washington) put on us,” Oregon guard Bryce Taylor said. “We kept turning the ball over. I think we got off to such a terrible start that we put ourselves in too deep of a hole to come back.”
Oregon (10-3, 2-2) entered the game knowing it would need a big night from point guard Aaron Brooks in order to hang with its offensive-minded Northwest rival. What the Ducks got, however, was anything but his
best performance.
The Seattle native, playing for the first time as a Duck back in his hometown, got in early foul trouble and was never much of a factor. Brooks was forced to the bench with 3:55 remaining in the first half after picking up his third foul. The sophomore eventually fouled out of the game with 8:55 remaining in the second half, finishing with nine points, four
assists and four turnovers in only
18 minutes.
“It’s a disappointing homecoming,” said Brooks, who attended Franklin High School. “We just lost a game and now it’s important we don’t let it hit us (against Washington State on Saturday).”
Washington’s pressure defense also hounded Oregon forward Ian Crosswhite, who finished with four points and seven turnovers in 24 minutes. The junior struggled to get into the flow of the offense and had several of his passes intercepted.
“We needed Aaron and Ian to play well,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “Those two guys did not play well again and when those guys don’t play well, we don’t play well as a basketball team.”
Despite the bad start, Oregon pulled to within four early in the second half when a tipin by Taylor cut the Washington lead to 40-36. The Ducks got no closer, however, as turnovers and the play of Husky forward Bobby Jones were too much for Oregon to overcome.
Jones scored 13 of Washington’s next 23 points, including a pair of three-pointers, and finished with a team-high 15 points.
“In the first half I wasn’t as aggressive and I knew in the second half I had to pick it up,” Jones said. “When I got those open shots I told myself I was going to shoot them confidently and I did.”
Tre Simmons also finished with 15 points for the Huskies, while Nate Robinson and Jamaal Williams each added 14.
Taylor led all scorers with 16 points for Oregon, while forward Maarty Leunen grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
“People are going to say (we lost) because we’re young and we don’t understand the energy it takes to come out and play hard,” Taylor said. “We’re just going to take it as a learning experience and see the way (Washington) came out with such fire and intensity on defense and try to emulate that.”
Huskies ruffle Ducks’ feathers early, win 77-56
Daily Emerald
January 13, 2005
Courtesy | Washington Athletic Department
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