One night after being outplayed in almost every facet of the game in a loss to Iowa, Oregon returned to Madison Square Garden in New York to dominate No. 15 Syracuse 80-65.

Oregon’s defense and post play Friday was much stronger than it was in the Thursday night loss to Iowa. In the loss to the Hawkeyes, the Ducks were out rebounded 46-35. Against Syracuse, the No. 13 Ducks out rebounded the Orange 35-28, outshot them by 14 percent (49 to 34.6) and blocked four more shots.

Freshman center Bol Bol had his best game in his young collegiate career, scoring 26 points on 11-17 shooting and collecting nine rebounds. Junior guard Payton Pritchard also rebounded after a rough shooting (1-9) night against Iowa, scoring 18 points on 4-5 shooting and making all eight free throws.

Oregon’s lead fluctuated in the second half, but when Syracuse began to press, the Ducks’ offense struggled for a brief moment. Three turnovers in a two minute span, starting at the 14 minute mark, resulted in a small Syracuse comeback, but it was all for not as Oregon got back on track.

With six minutes and 23 seconds left in the game, power forward Kenny Wooten took an alley-oop from Pritchard and dunked on Marek Dolezaj, stepping over him afterwards.

Oregon outscored Syracuse 12-0 in the final four minutes of the first half, with Pritchard and Bol each scoring six of those points, leading 35-22 at the break.

The Ducks will travel back to Eugene and will next play on Tuesday, hosting Green Bay for the final game of the 2K Empire Classic.
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack