Against the nation’s highest-scoring offense, Oregon’s offense was shut down and shut out at the McKale Center on Sunday.
No. 14 Arizona moved into sole possession of second place in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 90-66 win against Oregon in Tucson.
The Wildcats, who are averaging 92.7 points per game in conference play, scored 52 against Oregon in the first half. Arizona (13-3 overall, 5-2 Pac-10) scored a season-high 109 points against Oregon State on Thursday.
Arizona brought its traditional high-speed transition offense that Oregon struggled to defend. And Arizona’s pressure defense forced Oregon to scramble and fall out of sync.
The Ducks turned the ball over 19 times in the game, 13 in the first half alone. Arizona had nine steals.
“This game was lost in terms of turnovers, not blocking out and allowing this team to get into transition and into their comfort zone,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN (590 AM) radio after the game.
Oregon led only once, during the first minute of the game, and the score was tied once, 11-11, at the 15:43 mark in the first half. After that, Arizona put on a show.
Oregon went scoreless for more than five minutes during the first half, and Arizona went on an 18-0 run.
Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic came off the bench and was key for the Wildcats during the stretch. Radenovic entered the game averaging 9.9 points per game and finished with a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Mitch Platt brought Oregon back. After trailing 36-14 with fewer than seven minutes left in the half, Platt scored eight points on four straight possessions to cut the lead to 19.
Oregon trailed 52-27 at halftime.
In the first half, Arizona had only one turnover compared to Oregon’s 13. The Wildcats also had 16 second-chance points; the Ducks had none.
“When you break down against a team like Arizona, they make you pay,” Kent said. “I didn’t think we played particularly well.”
Oregon played better in the second half but could never get close enough to threaten Arizona. The Wildcats put on a transition-offense seminar with high-flying acrobatics and several dunks.
In one stretch, Arizona dunked the ball on Oregon four of five times down the floor. Forward Hassan Adams, the recipient of a few alley-oops, led Arizona with 20 points on 9 of 14 shooting from the floor.
Senior Luke Jackson found his touch late in the second half, but too little time was left for Oregon to make a significant run. At one point, Oregon had cut the lead to 14 points after Jackson scored five in two possessions.
Jackson led Oregon with 20 points and six rebounds, but he was credited with eight turnovers.
Kent said Jackson has even more responsibility now with the loss of freshman Aaron Brooks.
“This was a ball game where we missed our point guard,” Kent said. “We needed guard play; I knew that coming into this building. They really exploited us early on in terms of creating pressure and breaking down people.”
Arizona finished the game with nine unanswered points and gave Oregon its worst loss of the season. Oregon (9-5, 4-3) is now tied for fourth in the conference with California.
Oregon will face the Bears on Thursday night at McArthur Court.
The Ducks finished the game shooting 45.5 percent from the field compared to Arizona’s 48.1 percent. Yet, the Wildcats attempted 22 more shots than the Ducks.
Oregon missed its three-point shooting that has helped it to win games all season. The Ducks made only five three-pointers and shot 26.3 percent from beyond the arc. Senior James Davis was 1 for 7 on three-point shots.
Oregon shot a perfect 11 for 11 from the free-throw line but was outrebounded, 42-30, by the Wildcats.
Platt and forward Ian Crosswhite finished with 10 and 11 points, respectively.
For Arizona, center Channing Frye had 18 points and forward Andre Iguodala finished with 14.