Nate Bittle leads by example
He never necessarily needed to pass. Nor did he ever need to move around that much off-ball. Bittle, the Ducks’ longest tenured player, definitely didn’t need to be as much of a team player as he was, which made it so much more surprising to see the team rally behind him.
While he’s usually the one giving the pregame speeches in the tunnel, Bittle appears to be a fairly quiet big man on court. Bittle’s strong showing on the low block saw him finish the night with a game-leading 24 points on 7-9 shooting and 8-10 on free throws. Many of those points came from well-executed pick-and-rolls that forced the defense to collapse on Bittle and the rest of the frontcourt, opening the rest of the floor.
“(Head coach Dana Altman) made it a point this week in practice to set screens and roll hard,” Bittle said. “I think we did a good job tonight of holding our screens and rolling hard.”
Bittle’s versatility shone all game, especially within the first minute of the second half. Being backed down by Oregon State’s big man Noah Amenhauser, Bittle stymied his layup attempt. In transition, Bittle creeped up toward the top of the key where he received a Dezdrick Lindsay pass, spotted up and drained his second triple of the night.
His versatility as well as a willingness to do some of the dirty work at times made him an unsung hero against their in state rival.
Kwame Evans Jr. has taken that step up
While it’s only one game, Evans Jr.’s dominant performance against the Beavers gives hope that the junior forward has finally made major improvements from year to year. Evans Jr., a former 5-star recruit by 247Sports, came to Eugene with a great deal of hype, but underwhelmed as an underclassman.
Vaulted into a larger role as one of the three returning producers, Evans Jr. has excelled as Bittle’s frontcourt mate and he has carved out his own role on each side of the ball.
Evans Jr. tallied 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against the Beavers while shooting 10-14 from the free throw line. Like Bittle, his aggressive drives to the hoop both opened the game for the shooters and gave him easy chances at scoring from the stripe.
“(Evans Jr.) went out there and rebounded super hard and that got him involved in the game,” Bittle said. “From there, it led to him attacking the rim, getting fouled and hitting free throws. We’re gonna need that from him all the time.”
The Ducks’ offense needs to move the ball more
According to Altman’s summation of the game, the key to opening the offense is simply ball movement. Oregon shot much more efficiently when it passed the ball to two or three of the three “sides” rather than not passing it much.
“On three sides tonight, we shot 70%,” Altman said. “Two sides, 52%, but when we get impatient, we were 30% on one side. We just got to do a better job of moving the ball; that’s who we are.”
The team revolved around Jackson Shelstad and Bittle, who each have a tendency to hold the ball for stretches of time, but both shot well against Oregon State. Against Power Four teams, however, having just Bittle and Shelstad engaged at that level will not lead to wins, as the Ducks will need to find a way to get role players much more involved.
