This was not the way Oregon was hoping to begin Pac-12 play.
After a rough showing against Western Oregon five days ago, the Ducks were looking to play a complete game when they traveled to Corvallis to face rival Oregon State in the conference opener.
Not only did Oregon fail to play a complete game, the Ducks also failed to make progress against the underdog Beavers, and suffered a 70-57 loss in front of 9,000+ screaming fans at Gill Coliseum.
“I’ve been concerned all the time — we don’t focus on a lot of things so that’s been a concern for a long time,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “I keep talking about us making more progress and I’m disappointed with the progress we made this last week — that was not a good performance.”
With the loss, Oregon drops to 11-3 on the season and 0-1 in Pac-12 play, while the upstart Beavers are 10-2 and 1-0 in the conference.
After being down by as many as 18 points, Oregon clawed its way back into the game and got within single digits, 60-52, after Tyler Dorsey made two free throws with 3:27 to play. At this point, Oregon was showing the fight it has been accustomed too and it looked like the Ducks might make a game of it in the end.
That’s when Gary Payton II took over for the Beavers.
He drew three fouls, scored four points, grabbed two rebounds completely controlled the tempo down the stretch to ensure the Oregon State win. The Ducks tried to throw different bodies at Payton, using Dillon Brooks and Elgin Cook to guard him, but Payton was too quick for the big men and consistently got into the lane to cause havoc.
“It was all about competing and Oregon State just outcompeted us,” Brooks said. “We weren’t competing and we just didn’t have enough toughness.”
Chris Boucher led Oregon with 14 points while going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Brooks added 13 points. Dorsey finished with 10. However, Brooks, Dorsey and Elgin Cook, Oregon’s top three scorers, were held to just 9-of-25 (36 percent) shooting from the field, far below their 48 percent season average.
Oregon never looked comfortable for the majority of the game. The Ducks had no answers for the Beavers on defense and then on offense, the team looked even more lost, getting away from their identity of sharing the ball and trying to play too much one-on-one ball.
Five players scored in double figures for Oregon State as Tres Tinkle led the way 19. Payton, after being held scoreless in the first half, finished the game with 12 points, six assists, six rebounds and two steals.
The Ducks entered the game averaging 77.9 points per game, but scored just 19 first half points and 57 points for the game, both season lows. Oregon typically out rebounds its opponent, but once again, Oregon State came to play with more hustle and led the Ducks on the boards, 37-32.
“Everyone has got to take ownership of what they did,” Brooks said.
Altman admitted that it’s hard to pinpoint where it was exactly Oregon loss this game because they were outplayed in all facets of the game. Not only were they out-rebounded, the Ducks were also out-scored 31-16 in points off turnovers and fast break points, two statistics Oregon is used to winning in a game.
Oregon State started the game off with a quick 5-0 run, but the Ducks battled back to cut the deficit to 11-10 with 13:18 to play in the first half on a Dorsey layup.
Over the next eight and a half minutes of the game, the Ducks could do nothing right as the Beavers went on a 20-4 run and had Gill rocking like never before. Over that period, the Ducks committed three turnovers while allowing the Beavers to dictate the possessions with three offensive rebounds.
Those deficiencies led Oregon to enter halftime down 15, 34-19, its largest deficit of the season.
Oregon now has a quick turnaround as it will face Cal on Wednesday at Matthew Knight Arena at 6 p.m. The Golden Bears enter the game 2-0 in the Pac-12 and on a three-game winning streak.
“I’m not going to let them flush the game… they’re going to watch it all,” Altman said of his team. “We will try and get ready for Wednesday’s game against a very talented team — we’re going to have to get organized and get good quick.”
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka