The Oregon men’s basketball team fell to Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, 95-81, despite a career night for freshman guard Garrett Sim, who led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc.
“Things are starting to slow down for me and I’m starting to just see things like I always have. That’s a big advantage for me,” Sim said in a broadcast interview.
It was the highest point total of the season for any Oregon player. Sim’s previous career best was 11 points.
“I thought he played extremely poised and heady and tough basketball,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “That’s probably one of the lone bright spots of the night.”
Sim aside, Utah had the hot hand all night, shooting 12-of-23 from three point range (52.2 percent) and 32-of-55 (58.2 percent) from the field.
“We’ve really got to shore some things up defensively,” Kent said. “That’s way too many points to give a team.”
And when Utah missed, it often grabbed the rebound, as the Ducks were playing without centers Michael Dunigan and Frantz Dorsainvil due to injuries. Utah nearly lapped the Ducks, grabbing 39 rebounds in the game to Oregon’s 20.
The trouble in the paint for Oregon was compounded by the loss of Joevan Catron early in the second half. Catron came down awkwardly on his ankle seven minutes into the half and had to be helped off the floor by Kent. Catron did not return to the game.
“We’ve got to figure out what’s going on with Joevan,” Kent said. “He heard a little bit of a pop in there, in his ankle … let’s hope and pray that Joevan is OK because he’s a big key to what we do here.”
Oregon led early on by as many as three points, but Utah kept the game close with three-point shooting and the rebound advantage. The Ducks’ last lead came at 18-17 with seven minutes gone in the first.
Then Sean Green hit his second of four three-pointers in the half to give Utah a 20-18 lead. A pair of Tyler Kepkay lay-ups and two more Green threes pushed the Utah lead to 30-22 with nine minutes remaining. Oregon cut the lead down to as many as four points during the final nine minutes, but the hot shooting continued for Utah, which pushed the lead to 12 at the half, 54-42.
The bright spot for Oregon in the first half was Sim, who led all scorers in the half with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
Utah would continue to hit shots in the second half, led by Kepkay with 23 points and Green with 21 points. Nevill added 18 for Utah while snagging a game-high 10 rebounds.
The lead swelled to as many as 19 points at 68-49 but a trio of threes from Sim helped the Ducks cut it to 11 halfway through the second half.
A Kepkay three pushed the lead back to 14, then back-to-back steals by Kamyron Brown led to lay-ups by Teondre Williams and Churchill Odia, cutting the lead to 10 at 76-66 with nine minutes remaining.
Oregon cut the lead to 10 again with less than seven minutes left, but missed free throws by the Ducks and made free throws by Utah would keep it from getting any closer while stretching it to the final 95-81.
KEVIN HUDSON
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