Oregon’s bid for another upset victory began with an Anthony Norwood first half three-pointer, and ended with a touch foul by Chris Christoffersen in the second half that fouled the center out of the game.
During the 26 minutes in between those two events, the Ducks outscored the second-ranked Stanford Cardinal 49-31, to take a 56-49 lead with only 6:10 to play.
But once Christoffersen went down, Stanford exploited Oregon’s inside game and went on a 13-0 run that broke the Ducks’ back. The late-game dominance helped seal the Cardinal’s 69-62 win in front of an energized, sold-out crowd of 9,087 at McArthur Court Thursday night.
“We were in position to win against the No. 2 team,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “That tells me a lot about us. We battled hard and left it all out on the court.”
Stanford (21-1 overall, 9-1 Pacific-10 Conference), which beat Oregon for the 10th consecutive time, was led by center Jason Collins with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Oregon (12-8, 3-7) was paced by Bryan Bracey with 15 and Freddie Jones with 12.
“They just went on a big run, and we went stagnant on offense,” Bracey said. “We played our hearts out. We just didn’t get any breaks.”
The Ducks knew that defense would be the key to this game, and didn’t want to use their foul trouble and the officiating as an excuse. Besides Christoffersen’s late-game absence, the Ducks were also without center Julius Hicks, who fouled out with 8:35 remaining.
The most glaring statistic was that Stanford attempted 37 foul shots compared with Oregon’s 7.
“You can’t look and say that the officiating took the game away,” Kent said. “Defense was the key. We just didn’t defend in that key stretch at the end. When we got down early, it was defense that got us back in the game. “
In the beginning, it appeared as though Stanford could run away with the game after taking an early 18-7 lead. But then came Norwood’s three-pointer at the 12:31 mark of the first half, followed by a Bracey trey and a Jones layin to cut it to 18-15 and breathe realistic hope into the crowd and the Ducks.
From there, the game turned into a competitive, hard-nosed battle with no team taking more than a five-point lead until Oregon’s seven-point advantage with 6:10 to play.
“This is a tough to place to play, and Oregon was very well prepared,” Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery said. “The game went as we expected it to. They had us down late and really forced us to dig down.”
The Ducks were only down 63-60 with less than a minute left, but couldn’t convert on their chances. They were then forced to foul Stanford sharpshooter Ryan Mendez three times, and he drilled all six free throws to help his team capture the win.
This was definitely a different Oregon team than the one that got embarrassed last Sunday in a 27-point loss to Arizona State. The Ducks more resembled the team that upset then-No. 7 Arizona on Feb. 1.
“I know a lot of people were waiting to see how this team was going to bounce back after we played so poorly, and I have to say that I’m extremely proud of the way they did,” Kent said.
It was still tough for the players to find positives from a close loss, even it did come against one of the best teams in the country.
“I don’t believe in moral victories,” freshman Luke Ridnour said. “That game was ours to win and we gave it to them.”
It’s clear that the Ducks know how to get up for the big-time opponents. With every game gaining importance down the stretch, the Ducks said now they must learn to treat every game as though it’s against a Stanford or an Arizona, starting with Saturday’s 3 p.m. tilt with California.