Dance music blared as the crowd took turns roaring its way through a second-half timeout. Ducks coach Dana Altman looked visibly frustrated after another clean look from the San Diego State Aztecs (3-2) allowed them to pull back closer from what was a 13-point deficit.
To that point, Wednesday’s game — a 78-68 Oregon (7-0) win over the Aztecs, and the inaugural Players Era Festival, a six-day tournament doling out $9 million in NIL — had delivered.
With the tournament raising the stakes, Oregon and SDSU dueled throughout. The teams traded (and blew) early leads. And with that 13-point lead trimmed to just four with seven minutes remaining, college basketball had what it desired — a November game at an obscure time between two teams that haven’t played this decade that felt like it really mattered.
Each position seemed to matter more as both teams traded and-one fouls and clutch 3-pointers amid eight total lead changes. It went that way deep into the second half, with the Ducks making the biggest plays in the final minutes of the win.
TJ Bamba was terrific throughout, showing out on national television with a flurry of jump shots and savvy plays. He finished with 22 points, including a pair of second-half 3-pointers that helped close out the win.
The Ducks were able to earn another significant victory on Wednesday despite wobbling significantly at times and San Diego State fighting back to pull within four after looking disengaged over the first 20 minutes of action.
Oregon had five different players in double-figures and went 10-22 from 3-point range.
The win continues the Ducks’ remarkable start to the season, a trend made even more significant by Altman’s teams historically starting somewhat slow and getting better as the season goes on.
There were other little ways the Ducks won on Wednesday in their second victory in as many days.
Oregon dominated the boards, using a 24-12 first-half rebounding differential and 18 second-chance points to grow their lead to ten after 20 minutes. The early effort and execution problems were severe enough to force the Aztecs into an uphill climb for the remainder of the game.
The Ducks were more persistent, getting to the line a whopping 26 times (18/26 made) compared to just eight from the Aztecs (4/8).
Defensively, Oregon excelled, changing defensive sets after each SDSU run and strategically using timeouts to help deter the Aztecs from gaining any real momentum.
BJ Davis and Nick Boyd led SDSU in scoring with 18 and 15 points, respectively, but neither had any significant impact down the stretch.
Oregon has won seven straight games to begin the season, with the last two coming against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago. The Ducks will return to action on Saturday against the winner of the matchup between Rutgers and No. 9 Alabama.
