In a contest where offense became incredibly hard to find, the importance of playing disciplined proved the difference.
That’s where the No. 17 Purdue Boilermakers (15-4, 7-1 Big Ten) prevailed over the No. 13 Oregon Ducks (15-3, 4-3 Big Ten). Purdue maintained the advantage in forcing turnovers (16-12), getting rebounds (37-32) and shot almost twice the amount of free throws that Oregon did (30-17).
Oregon shot 36% and Purdue shot 34% for the game, and the abysmal performance bled into the energy and effort that the Ducks showed on Saturday.
“The shot selection was awful. Really disappointed in myself not getting the guys to execute what we wanted,” head coach Dana Altman said.
The Boilermakers rode a six-game winning streak, and only lost one conference game leading up to their blockbuster matchup in Eugene. The Ducks carried their own three-game run of excellence, and won each of those by fewer than five points.
From the jump, Matthew Knight Arena shook from the noise of its sell-out crowd. A tough Brandon Angel and-one and a Jackson Shelstad pull from the logo started the scoring for Oregon and kept the crowd frenzied early-on.
The Boilermakers fought back with a 6-0 run and fierce defense — often forcing the Ducks to play out of corner traps and from far behind the arc. Purdue held Oregon scoreless for the almost five minutes that the run encapsulated.
“They’re physical and they don’t get out of position. We saw the double teams coming into the post, but they get off and to the ball as well as anybody,” Altman said. “They do a lot of good things defensively, they’re all tuned in and take care of their assignments.”
That run was only broken by free throws, and the Ducks had to wait an extra two minutes for the field goal drought to break via an Angel layup. Nate Bittle walked down a quick three on the next possession to tie the game at 14 halfway through the opening frame.
Purdue’s trademark 3-point shooting failed to appear in the first half, and shockingly never recovered, as the Boilermakers totaled 16.7% from beyond the arc — 2-12.
“I thought our activity defensively was pretty good. You hold them, one of the top-10 offenses in the country to 33% and 16% and they got to the free throw line too much…you should put yourself in position, it’s just offensively we made way too many mistakes,” Altman said.
The Boilermakers cleaned up their interior offense as the first came to a close, which kept Purdue in front as halftime neared. A Purdue scoring drought for the final three minutes allowed Oregon to jump in front by halftime, and a 24-second violation on the final possession gave the Ducks a 31-30 lead at the break.
Oregon’s offensive struggles bled into the second half, as the Ducks only scored two points in the opening eight minutes of the period, which equated to a Purdue scoring run of 11-0 and a seven-and-a-half minute scoreless drought.
“At halftime, we were doing a great job getting over screens, over pick-and-rolls and in the second half, it slowed up a little bit. We just gotta be able to play 40 minutes of team defense,” Bittle said.
That streak was broken as Jadrian Tracey finally got a triple to fall for Oregon, which seemed to spark the energy the team needed to tackle Purdue’s lead. Neither team produced enough offense to take the reins of the contest.
With that, came Oregon’s 16 turnovers and confusion on each offensive possession. Even with the lack of firepower, the Ducks found a way to stick around and keep the game within striking distance.
“We held them to 65 and if we hold a team to 65, we gotta win games. Below 70 that’s our saying,” Bittle said.
However, the lack of offense proved to be terminal for Oregon. The Boilermakers slowed down the game and killed any momentum the Ducks tried to build in front of a sell-out home crowd.
Oregon tried to muster a comeback down 10 with about 90 seconds to go, but Purdue’s experience added to the insurmountability of its lead. Even with Bittle rattling in a couple from deep, Oregon had no way back.
Purdue closed this one out and took the victory 65-58.
Oregon returns to its home court to take on the Washington Huskies at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.
