Another weekend, another loss.
The Oregon men’s basketball team lost 64-49 to the California Golden Bears Saturday at McArthur Court, furthering the team’s descent into the basement of the Pacific-10 Conference. Oregon (12-14 overall, 4-10 Pac-10 Conference) is now in 10th place, while the Golden Bears (18-9, 10-5) are in first.
“It’s pretty frustrating, but there are still games to be played,” sophomore forward Jeremy Jacob said.
Jacob had 14 points and five rebounds to lead the Duck offense, but again the Ducks struggled shooting. The team shot 34.1 percent and didn’t score a single field goal over the last 10:32. The only points scored in the final 10 minutes by Oregon were free throws.
“We’ve had a lot of stretches like that,” head coach Ernie Kent said. “You just cannot go through stretches like that.”
The Bears were led by Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle with 16 points apiece. Randle was 4-for-7 from three-pointers, and Robertson went 3-for-6. The Ducks were 1-for-11 from behind the arc.
“It’s definitely not from a lack of effort,” said freshman forward E.J. Singler, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. “It’s not putting the ball in the hole.”
Oregon played well in the first half, and the team came within one at the half at 24-23. But the Bears used a 9-0 run to start the second half, and the Ducks were never closer than five points the rest of the half. They were lacking size against the bigger Cal team without sophomore center Michael Dunigan, who sat out because of a problem with his hip. When California brought in 7-foot 3-inch Max Zhang, the Ducks couldn’t stop him inside. He finished with eight points in five minutes of play.
“With Mike out, we’re playing small ball,” Jacob said. “When a guy like that comes in, it hurts us.”
Perhaps the most telling stat of the night was that Oregon only had one assist on 15 field goals. Jacob had the only assist, with 17:28 to play in the first half. The final 37:32 minutes of the game not a single Duck made a basket off of a pass from a teammate. By comparison, California had 15 assists.
“It was the difference in the game because there were more out there we just didn’t finish,” said Kent. “We left 15-25 more points out there minimum on the floor with not being able to shoot the basketball.”
Oregon has now lost five games in a row. Saturday’s loss was also the second time during the streak that the Ducks have failed to break the 50-point mark, and they have yet to score more than 71 points since scoring 90 against Washington on Jan. 2.
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