Like the previous games in Oregon’s season-opening World Vision Invitational tournament, the offense wasn’t always pretty, the defense was, at times, erratic and the free-throw shooting was, well, not up to the team’s usual standards.
Although the Ducks lead by 16 points at the half and by as much as 19, the outcome of the game was in doubt at times thanks to turnovers and scoring runs by Western Michigan, who came within six points of tying the lead with nearly seven minutes remaining.
But none of that mattered as the Ducks went on to win 97-88 against the Broncos Monday night and completed their home tournament as champions with a 3-0 record on the same day the Ducks climbed to No. 11 in the rankings.
“We were pretty effective the first half and I thought they were pretty effective in the second half,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “The biggest adjustment for us is going to be free-throw shooting.”
The Ducks went 31-of-45 from the line which is a 68.9 percentage. Sunday night, they shot 57.1 percent with 12-of-21 shooting.
“If we make our free-throws they’re 20-point wins,” Kent said, referring to the past two tightly contested games. “I thought we made the games a lot tougher than we needed them to be.”
The fact that Oregon completed the tournament without a loss is reason enough not to worry too much about the free throws just yet.
“The key thing is, is that you’re 3-0. We got everything we wanted because they were three different games,” Kent said. “I feel like we’re playing better basketball right now than we were last year at this time.”
In the three games, senior guard Malik Hairston showed glimpses of why his senior season may be his best as he was named the tournament’s MVP and scored a career-high 29 points against Western Michigan. In the preseason, Hairston promised to carry the team on his back and although he did so Monday night, it was earlier than some expected.
“We played some tough teams this weekend and I think it was great for us, especially this early just because we’re going to have a lot of games like that in the Pac-10,” Hairston said.
Hairston also had a career-high four blocks and kept scoring when the Broncos were keeping it close in the final minutes. He came up with a few key blocks in the final minutes and shot 9-of-11 from the field but even he was mortal at free-throw line, shooting 8-of-13.
Joevan Catron had his best game of the early season with his first collegiate double-double.
“I’ll try to make it a habit,” he said. “I just try to be a versatile guy.”
He had a career-high 17 points, 10 rebounds, a team-high four assists and was even 2-of-2 from the three-point range.
“He had the same type of game last year but he was just a freshman,” Kent said. “He’s just a sophomore now that’s figured some things out.
“He’s exactly what we expected him to be.”
Kent said that both Hairston and Catron became stronger with each game, citing that as a good sign after playing three straight days after the two were maligned with injuries throughout last season.
Tajuan Porter also made the all-tournament team, though his trademark three-point shooting was off at times and was only 1-of-8 from the arc Monday night.
Despite Porter’s misses, Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins called Porter a “cold-blooded assassin” on the court.
Maarty Leunen was the third Duck to be honored and he had another solid night with 18 points and eight rebounds and was relieved that he cured his free-throw shooting woes, shooting 6-of-6 after he cited that he missed the first four of his senior season.
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