There’s been a concrete hierarchy this season within Big Ten men’s basketball and throughout the last three weeks, Oregon men’s basketball (11-17, 4-13 Big Ten) has regularly been put in its place by the conference’s best. 

But not on Saturday afternoon, when the Ducks pulled out a miraculous last-minute comeback over the USC Trojans, and not on Wednesday night when head coach Dana Altman and his squad overwhelmed the tournament-hopeful Wisconsin Badgers (19-9, 11-6 Big Ten) in dominant fashion, 85-71. 

“Our activity defensively was the difference in the game,” Altman said. 

The Ducks won by committee on offense, with four players scoring over 13 points, and took advantage of the Badgers’ abysmal shooting night (33% from the field and 30% from three) by shooting 52% from the field and 47% on 3-pointers. Oregon’s 55-38 scoring margin during the second half allowed it to pull away as Wisconsin attempted a program record number of 3-pointers (45) to no avail. 

“(We had) 19 assists on 28 baskets and a two to one assist to turnover ratio, which we just haven’t had,” Altman said. “Our guys have struggled making plays and making the right plays, but we did a much better job tonight.”

After failing to beat a Power Four team with a winning record all season, Oregon secured its second straight win over a successful conference opponent and impaired Wisconsin’s tournament hopes. 

Oregon’s perimeter defense struggled to fight through on-ball screens early, which left the Ducks having to switch a lot, creating mismatches for the Badgers. It also didn’t help that Oregon shot just 29% from the field in the opening 10 minutes. 

By the midpoint in the half, the Badgers had been scoreless for over five minutes and the Ducks mustered up enough of their own offense to take an 8-0 run. Oregon was able to limit the Wisconsin drive-and-kick attack, as guards Wei Lin and Takai Simpkins (17 points) stayed aggressive on close-outs and interior clean up from either Nate Bittle (20 points) or Sean Stewart provided solid backup. 

That stretch took the Ducks within just a point of the Badgers, and a Lin pull-up 3-pointer tied it up at 23 with seven minutes left in the first after Boyd ended the run with an easy layup. Lin subsequently high-stepped through the lane and put Oregon on top for the first time in the contest. 

The Ducks played with tremendous confidence in the opening frame, and no one exemplified that more than Lin. His ability to break down the Wisconsin defense off the dribble made his playmaking and shot-creating a lot more effective, as his nine points led Oregon to staying within three points by halftime.  

Lin finished with an efficient 13 points off the bench on 5/8 shooting.

Wisconsin’s poor shooting highlighted the first half, as the Badgers shot 9/30 (30%) from the field and 6/21 (29%) on 3-pointers. 

The Badgers aimed to beat Oregon from deep, but it was the free throw line that saved them in the first. Wisconsin’s 9/10 line trounced Oregon’s 5/5 total, which gave the visitors the slight, 33-30 advantage at the break. 

“It was a great defensive team effort,” Bittle said. “We were in the gaps when Boyd and (John) Blackwell were trying to drive and we had a lot of deflections and a bunch of fake recovers that had them picking up their dribble or swinging the ball side to side and that’s what we needed tonight.”

The Ducks did an effective job of taking what the defense gave them to begin the second, which was the interior. A Kwame Evans Jr. (16 points) and-one at the rim and Dezdrick Lindsay dribble-drive tied the game at 47, each coming off a turnover on the other end. 

Oregon’s ability to create turnovers and block shot attempts gave it an extra edge during the second half, as the Ducks ended up forcing 12 Wisconsin turnovers, leading to 24 points while also securing eight blocks. Evans’ four blocks led all rim protectors during the contest. 

“They came out and scored early in the (second) half, but then we did a better job with our activity,” Altman said. “(Bittle) got a lot of deflections. (We got) 8 steals that turned into transition points for us, which we hadn’t been getting.”

The Badgers began to settle for poor 3-point attempts as the Ducks closed down the middle and another lengthy scoring drought, this one just at five minutes, helped create a 9-0 run for Oregon, which put it up four with just 10 minutes to go. 

The Ducks also let Wisconsin shoot its way out of the game, as the Badgers continued to shy away from Bittle and Stewart in the paint, opting for an avalanche of 3-pointers to stop Oregon from pulling away. 

Lin’s foul-line jumper led into an emphatic Stewart dunk over two defenders and Simpkins converted on two free throws to put the Ducks ahead by 11 with just six minutes to play. 

As soon as Wisconsin got it going again, Lindsay silenced the Badgers with a dagger from deep 3-point land, it was all but over. The crowd roared as Evans followed him up with a triple of his own, and the rest of the way, Matthew Knight Arena applauded its resilient Ducks.  

Oregon travels to Evanston, Illinois to take on the Northwestern Wildcats at 11 a.m. on Saturday, who are currently ranked below the Ducks in the Big Ten rankings.