In a game that was vital in order to secure a fading shot at an NCAA tournament bid, the Oregon Ducks lost to the Washington Huskies 78-67 Thursday night in Seattle.
Oregon (18-11) came into the matchup having gone 1-2 in their last three games, capped off by a heart-breaking 70-69 home loss to the USC Trojans.
Huskies guard and Pac-12 leading scorer Terrell Brown got it going early, netting the first 8 points of the game for Washington. He scored 14 of his 25 points in the first half. Brown and Mattews each scored a game high 25.
Washington (14-14) came into the game with just one win in its last six games but got hot early on and beat a team ahead of them in the standings for just a second time this season. The Huskies were without guard Daejon Davis for the eighth game in a row.
Both teams got off to a sluggish start offensively, combining for just 6 points in the first 3 minutes of play. The Ducks looked lost on offense at many points in the first half due to some inconsistent shooting from the field.
Senior guard Will Richardson had an off-night, turning the ball over three times in the first 20 minutes. Richardson shot a mere three times and went scoreless.
“[Will] is struggling right now,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I don’t know what else to say. He just got tentative offensively tonight.”
A bright spot for the Ducks was Devion Harmon’s 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting as the junior guard shot the ball confidently in Thursday’s matchup.
Though the game looked competitive early, unfortunately for Oregon, the Huskies found their rhythm near the end of the first half, polishing off the period on a 19-5 run to take a 33-23 halftime lead.
The out-of-sync play continued for the Ducks in the second half as starting center N’faly Dante left the game with an apparent knee injury just a minute into the second half. Dante never checked back into the lineup.
Huskies big man Nate Roberts couldn’t be stopped. He scored a career-high 18 points and collected 16 rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
The Washington lead ballooned to 23 at one point in the second half as the Ducks went scoreless for almost 3 minutes in the midst of 13-0 Huskies run.
Washington forward Emmitt Matthews was dominant on the glass due to Dante’s absence as he scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
Oregon made small runs throughout the closing half but were unable to close the gap as the closest they came within the Huskies lead was 11.
After the loss coach Altman touched on his team’s chances of making the tournament field.
“We’re going to have to do something really special down the stretch to get in the tournament,” Altman said. “We can’t change the past. We can only worry about the future.”
Oregon’s tournament hopes become more unlikely after the tough loss to the Huskies and will be in grave jeopardy if they can’t get a win when they travel north to Pullman to face the Washington State Cougars on Saturday at 1:00 p.m PT.
