Senior Luke Jackson made a statement to the Fresno State defense in the first half of Friday night’s game.
In the first seven minutes, Jackson was 4 for 5 from the three-point line.
“They made every three,” Fresno State head coach Ray Lopes said. “We left them too open. We didn’t do a good job of getting a hand up on shooters. They got a great player in Jackson. He got off to a great start.”
After Jackson earned himself 12 points, guards James Davis and Andre Joseph took over the shooting duties from downtown.
At 11:48 of the first half, Davis hit the first of his three three-pointers to put Oregon back up by 10 points. Then Joseph got hot.
For nearly six minutes toward the end of the first half, Joseph carried the team as the only scorer by making three in a row from beyond the arc.
Joseph was 3 for 6 on the night from three-point land, helping him to his 15 points in Oregon’s 80-67 win. Joseph said it just feels natural.
“I feel comfortable taking it,” he said. “It’s open, I’ve been doing it all my life. I just feel like it’s going to go in.”
In the final two minutes of the first half, Davis and sophomore Brandon Lincoln both converted, helping Oregon to a 42-30 lead at halftime. The Ducks were 10 for 17 on three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Oregon looked well on its way to breaking a team record of 16 three-pointers in one game, set against Washington State in February 2002.
Jackson also looked to have a chance to break the individual record of eight three-pointers in one game, set by Orlando Williams and Jamal Lawrence in the mid-1990s.
It remained promising as freshman Aaron Brooks hit from three off an assist from Jackson for Oregon’s first score at 17:53 in the second half.
Then Oregon went cold. The Ducks didn’t hit again until the eight-minute mark. Fresno State caught on.
“We were on fire there for a little while,” forward Ian Crosswhite said. “The guys were just knocking them down. Maybe they (Fresno State) were getting out to the shooters a little better. They realized those guys were lighting them up from the three-point line.”
At 8:31, Davis hit the third three in his seven attempts. Jackson hit for the last time at 6:20 on his fifth three to keep Oregon ahead, 64-51. Lincoln scored his second in the final three minutes.
“If we’re going to shoot like that from the three-point line, it’s going to be tough to beat us,” Jackson said. “We came out shooting the ball really well. We were hot right off the bat. Everybody came in and hit a three, pretty much, and that really helped.”
Every Oregon player who attempted a three-pointer made at least one. Brooks was 1 for 2, Lincoln was 2 for 4 and Jackson led the way shooting 5 for 8.
Jackson’s five broke his career high in a game after earning four in games against Arizona and Washington in the past two seasons.
“If the three-point shot is there, I’m a strong believer in it,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “We need to shoot the three, because we’ve got some really good shooters on this team. … There was not one single one that is what I would call a bad shot.”
Kent thinks Oregon still could have done better.
“There were six or seven of them that were wide open that could have given you a higher mark out there in shooting the basketball,” he said. “It just tells you that we’re a really good shooting basketball team.”