Friel Court was a black hole of sound Thursday night.
It was quiet to begin with. Then the Oregon men’s basketball team went up by nine at halftime, and it went even quieter. Then Oregon broke the game open in the second half and sound actually disappeared into the arena.
Well, not really, but the point is that the Ducks silenced the silent with an 89-70 victory over the Cougars in Pullman on Thursday night. Oregon played its second solid road game in a row and moved to 18-6 overall and 8-5 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
More importantly, the Ducks moved to 3-3 on the Pac-10 road, which puts them into good position for the NCAA Tournament.
“This was a complete game on our part,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN-AM after the game. “We were businesslike and workmanlike, and that was a good thing.”
KUGN’s Jerry Allen commented that his station actually turned up its crowd microphones during the game. It didn’t help. Oregon shot 58 percent from the field, and held the Cougars to 40 percent shooting in a solid defensive effort. Though the Cougars kept the game semi-close in the first half, the Ducks dictated the tempo and never seemed threatened by Washington State, which still hasn’t won a Pac-10 game.
Oregon was led by Luke Jackson’s 24 points and Luke Ridnour’s 21. Ridnour also went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, extending his Pac-10 record for consecutive free throws to 59.
Ridnour added seven assists, his most spectacular assist coming on a behind-the-back feed to Robert Johnson in the second half, which Johnson finished to give the Ducks a 57-38 lead.
The play almost solicited a cheer from the Washington State crowd.
“Ridnour was just outta control tonight,” Johnson said. “That was a great pass.”
Johnson led the Oregon big men with 12 points. Ian Crosswhite had eight points while Brian Helquist had only four points, but added a pair of steals in a second-straight solid effort.
But the biggest supplement to the team Thursday was, again, Andre Joseph. The junior college transfer has been coming on of late, and chipped in 14 points to Thursday’s effort.
“He just gives you a tremendous lift coming off the bench,” Kent said of Joseph. “I can’t say enough about him, especially the way he’s been playing in the Pac-10.”
The Ducks had a solid team effort for the second game in a row, and Kent said that’s the most uplifting thing about Oregon’s play right now.
“They’re starting to hold themselves accountable, and that’s what forces them to grow,” Kent said. “It’s coming at the right time.”
Oregon will now head west to Seattle to face Washington, which lost to Oregon State 80-72 on Thursday. But Kent and the Ducks have had a feud with Washington recently that both sides take seriously.
“It’s going to be a very tough game for us because they’re fighting to get into the Pac-10 Tournament right now,” Kent said of Washington. “They’ll be even more fired up to play us.”
The Ducks and Huskies will square off at 4 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports.