KEVIN HUDSON | SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon men’s basketball team won a tight one, 66-64, over visiting Northern Colorado in its regular-season opener Friday night, in front of 8,273 at McArthur Court.
The game featured 10 ties and nine lead changes, along with a healthy dose of defensive energy and an off shooting night for both clubs.
The Ducks shot 33.8 percent from the field in the game, 31.3 percent from three-point range, and 58.6 percent from the freethrow line. The Bears managed 35.5 percent from the field, 20 percent from beyond the arc, and 65.4 percent from the charity stripe.
“We just couldn’t pull away from this team because we were missing too many wide open shots,” said Oregon head coach Ernie Kent. “We’re going to have to put some more time in shooting the ball with this group but I think they will play better. The key thing now is to just get better from game to game.”
Sophomore guard LeKendric Longmire led the Ducks in scoring with 15 points and added five rebounds, four steals and an assist. Next was freshman center Michael Dunigan with 13 points and seven rebounds with two steals in 18 minutes.
Josh Crittle joined Dunigan with seven rebounds and added six points on 3-of-6 shooting with two steals, an assist and a blocked shot in 21 minutes, as Dunigan was in foul trouble for most of the night.

“Josh Crittle was unbelievable, just a man in the game tonight,” Kent said.
The Ducks managed 15 steals and four blocked shots in the game and Kent said it was the defense that saved the day for Oregon.
“That’s the one thing we can do is play hard and give energy. There’s going to be nights like this again where, on the road or at home, you’re going to miss shots, you’re going to miss freethrows,” he said. “The one common thread is, you can continue to defend people. I thought we did a good job that way just kind of hanging in and keeping ourselves in the game.”
Notably missing from the top of the stat sheet for Oregon were juniors Tajuan Porter and Joevan Catron, who finished with five and two points, respectively, on a combined 1-of-17 shooting night, though Catron led the team with nine rebounds.
“I don’t think it was hesitancy at all, I just think we got a bad offensive night from those two guys and we can’t afford to have too many of those and pull games out,” Kent said. “Those two kids need to play and need to score for us.”
The two are by far the most experienced of the current Ducks, and were thought to be the ones to carry the load for this season’s team in the wake of last season’s graduations.
Kent said he talked with them about how to better do just that after the game.
“My two studs, I had a good talk with them. We talked a little bit about stepping up a little bit more in practice and everything else,” he said. “With Joevan and T.P. they’ve got to be the guys right now. There’s no Malik (Hariston) or Bryce (Taylor) or Maarty (Leunen) to bail them out and just let them kind of do their thing. They have to be the guys.”
The victory was win No. 212 for Kent, tying him for first on the school’s all-time wins list with Howard Hobson, who coached the fabled “Tall Firs” teams of the early 1940s.
“Honestly, when you obtain a record like that, that means a couple of things to me: you’ve had some great players, and we’ve had them here at Oregon … and I’ve had some unbelievable assistant coaches,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate.”
Kent will seek win No. 213 for his career and these young Ducks will seek win No. 2 on the season Monday night, 7 p.m. at McArthur Court, against Oakland, who upset the No. 23 Ducks last season in Auburn Hills, Mich.
The game will be broadcast by the Oregon Sports Network on radio and television, according to an Oregon release.
KEVIN HUDSON
[email protected]