When Oregon men’s basketball (8-8, 1-4 Big Ten) was defeated by the Ohio State Buckeyes (11-4, 3-2 Big Ten) 72-62, it was the shooting that told the story of the night. From the start of the game, the Ducks could not buy a basket, and that hardly ever changed. They finished the game having shot 20-for-61 from the field and 7-for-30 from 3-point range.

“We had some open threes that our guys were confident in shooting (and) had some good looks,” head coach Dana Altman said. “We went inside a number of times early and didn’t get the calls and I thought there was a lot of contact there. Nate (Bittle) had a rough start. We didn’t go inside as much as we should.”

Bittle, who is usually one of Oregon’s leading scorers, had just two points in the first half while shooting one-for-11. He saw a major improvement in the second half, scoring 12 points, but still finished the night shooting 5-19.

“You try to get (Bittle) to slow down a little bit,” Altman said. “Be a little more powerful, get to the free throw line a little bit more, draw some of those fouls. He’s an experienced player. He’s had some big games, but tonight, offensively he didn’t have a good night.”

As a team, the Ducks shot 9-34 in the first half including 2-15 from the 3-point line. OSU was scoreless for the last five minutes of the second half, but it didn’t matter. While the numbers did improve in the second half, Oregon still finished the game shooting 32.8 percent. Whether it was driving inside or shooting it from deep, the team could not consistently find the bottom of the net.

“We weren’t successful (inside) and I thought we went away from it a little too quick,” Altman said. “We just had a hard time finishing inside or out. Of the 30 threes 24 or 25 of them were pretty good shots, pretty open, we just couldn’t get any of them to fall.”

In Oregon’s other three conference losses this season (to USC, UCLA and Rutgers), the shooting wasn’t outstanding, but this game was statistically the worst. It certainly didn’t help to be without point guard Jackson Shelstad, who is usually the best 3-point shooter for the Ducks when he’s on the floor. He has missed a fair number of games this season, and his absence has been felt.

Oregon will play five ranked opponents over the course of the next month. If it continues to shoot the way it shot in this game, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where it wins any of those games, but this program has proven in the past that it is capable of making adjustments during the season.

“We’ve got to come back Saturday and get back to work. Our next two games are against Nebraska and Michigan. They’re both undefeated. We’ve got a very tough January schedule. We’ve got a tremendous amount of things we’ve got to work on. I am disappointed. Our team is disappointed, but if we don’t get to work and play harder and play a lot smarter, we’re gonna struggle.”

The Ducks have faced plenty of rough stretches in recent years. That has not stopped them from finding their groove and making a run for the tournament. With the toughest part of the season upon them, the Ducks have their work cut out for them. It won’t be easy, but with Altman’s experience and leadership, they could surprise.