The Ducks are back in the win column.
Sunday’s contest between the No. 9 Oregon Ducks (13-2, 2-2 Big Ten) and the Maryland Terrapins (11-4, 1-3 Big Ten) was set to be a big one for Dana Altman’s squad. The Ducks were in desperate need of a bounceback after getting embarrassed at home against Illinois just two days prior.
Oregon got its response in a shootout win over the Terrapins that saw a total of 21 3-pointers fall, most of them coming at crucial moments.
“This was another game where we can show what type of team we can be and forget about the last game,” Nate Bittle said. “The guys did a good job of that.”
Both teams got off to blistering offensive starts. Maryland knocked down threes on each of their first two possessions while the Ducks found points on each of their first five. Bittle tallied six points in the game’s first five minutes, but the Ducks trailed 14-12 at the contest’s first media timeout.
The Terrapins came to shoot the lights out, and were successful in doing so early on. Maryland hit three of their first five attempts from deep as its lead grew to eight halfway through the first half. Still, the Terrapins were far from putting anything away in the opening minutes.
“We knew we were going to go on a run,” Jackson Shelstad said. “We got things together defensively.”
The energy threatened to leave the building when Selton Miguel went over the top of Bittle for a layup and picked up a foul. His free throw put the Terrapins up by 13. Undeterred by the ballooning deficit, Bittle responded with a 3-pointer to bring the Matthew Knight Arena crowd back into it. Seconds later, Shelstad connected from deep for a triple of his own.
Then, he did it again, causing a minor explosion from those in attendance. Shelstad’s quick resurgence allowed Oregon to cut the deficit to two. He finished the first half with 14 points (4/4 from deep) to lead all scorers at the break. He finished with 23 points on 8/10 shooting (5/5 from deep), five rebounds and two assists.
“He’d been struggling shooting, but we worked at it,” Altman said of Shelstad. “He’d been shooting okay in practice. Players go through stretches, and this had been a long stretch for him. What I was most impressed with, I know he hit shots, but he guarded much better tonight.”
Maryland got hot again in the half’s closing minutes, but a 3-point shot from Jadrian Tracey sent the Ducks into the locker room on a high note. The Terrapins were 5-12 from deep in the opening frame and took a narrow 45-42 lead into the halftime break.
The second half started no differently than the first. Keeshawn Barthelemy (14 points on 5/8 shooting) knocked down a three of his own and put back a layup seconds later to knot the game at 47. Then, Bittle sunk his second shot from beyond the arc on the day to give Oregon its first lead of the contest.
“He likes it,” Altman said of Bittle taking 3-point shots. “I mean, half his shots [came] from [deep], so you know where he wants to go. He can shoot them.”
A 14-0 run from Bittle and the Ducks put Oregon ahead by nine and forced Maryland to take a much-needed timeout. Momentum seemed to have finally swung Altman’s way in Big Ten play. Bittle finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists in his crucial performance.
Kwame Evans Jr. hit a 3-ball early in the second half to become the fifth Duck to record a 3-pointer in the contest. 38 of Oregon’s 83 overall points came from deep. Both teams shot a commendable 42.9% from 3-point range.
“I thought for the most part, our shot selection was decent,” Altman said.
The next six minutes were a chess match, much like the rest of the game had been. Shelstad and the Terrapins traded threes while Bittle battled in the paint. With 11 minutes left to play, the game was as tight as ever as the Ducks clung to a 64-62 lead.
Maryland went back ahead with a pair of down-low layups, but the cat-and-mouse game was far from over. Kwame Evans Jr. regained the lead with a putback, but it lasted just long enough for Ja’Kobi Gellespie to sink his third 3-pointer of the afternoon.
When the final media timeout hit with 3:27 left to play, the two squads were knotted at 74-74. Bittle blocked a pair of dunks in a matter of seconds to help the atmosphere grow. MKA was as lively as it had been in a while.
“[The fans] got really loud and that’s when we started rallying,” Shelstad said. “Toward the end of the game, the last couple minutes, they got really loud and we’re going to need that from them with this schedule we have in the conference.”
Barthelemy connected from deep again with just over two minutes remaining to retake the lead. Finally, it was one the Ducks wouldn’t relent. Oregon took down the Terrapins 83-79 to earn its second conference victory of the season.
Five Oregon shooters finished with 10 or more points in a full team-effort win. The Ducks return to action on Thursday in a road game against Ohio State. Tipoff is set for 3:00 pm PST.
