The Oregon men’s basketball team approached this weekend’s series against the Washington schools with a simple mindset, one that it will carry on its shoulders for the rest of the regular season.
The Ducks needed a sweep.
Anything less, especially at home, would have been a devastating blow to Oregon’s chances of winning the Pac-12. And so in matchups with Washington and Washington State, the Ducks put that mentality into action, coming away with two decisive victories as a reward and maintaining a solid third-place conference standing.
“A sweep was very important,” senior guard Devoe Joseph said. “We needed these games, especially that Washington game with them being ahead of us.”
Saturday’s showdown with Washington State was dominated by Garrett Sim and E.J. Singler. The sharpshooters combined for eight of Oregon’s eleven three-pointers, scoring 23 and 16 points respectively. Senior guard Devoe Joseph also chipped in with 16 points, and as a group the Ducks shot a crisp 55.3 percent from the field. In all, it was enough to make up for a lacking defensive effort that might have doomed Oregon (18-7, 9-4 Pac-12) on another day.  @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
“It was a game that we won on the offensive end,” head coach Dana Altman said. “We shot the ball really well — 11 of 20 (from three), 15 of 18 from the line. Very pleased at times with the way we moved the ball offensively in the second half … but defensively, it was not a good effort.”
Indeed, things got off to an ominous start when Washington State (13-12, 5-8 Pac-12) opened up with a three-pointer on its first possession. Sim came right back with a three of his own, though, and it was clear from the onset that both teams were poised to light up the scoreboard. The Cougars would go on to make five of their first seven three-pointers en route to taking a 24-18 lead halfway through the first period. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
“I thought we took a big step against Washington in not giving up easy baskets, and we turned around this afternoon and gave up a lot of easy baskets,” Altman said. “We had two guys going with a guy and leaving a guy wide open, and they knocked them down.”
The Ducks managed to fight their way back with a three-point barrage of their own, and went into the halftime break with a narrow 36-33 lead. Singler, for his part, was the game’s only player in double figures through the first 20 minutes with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. As a team, Oregon shot a blistering 60.9 percent clip in the first half, and Washington State remained close mostly on the strength of its five three-pointers.
A three-point play from Singler allowed the Ducks to stretch its lead to eight in the early minutes of the second half, but the Cougars clawed their way back in with a 13-5 run that tied the game at 48. With just over 12 minutes remaining, Oregon looked to be in for another close finish.
After a six minute stretch of trading baskets with the Cougars, Oregon finally took the lead for good when Sim and Joseph hit back-to-back three-pointers. A 58-58 tie morphed into a 64-58 advantage for the Ducks, and they never looked back.
“We knew what we wanted to get into down the stretch, where we wanted to go,” Singler said. “I just thought we made a lot better plays in the second half.”
Fittingly, it was Singler and Sim who put the finishing touches on the victory with consecutive three-pointers (and one assisting the other on both plays).
“The whole team’s just trying to make plays for each other,” Singler said. “And we just found each other, and we made the shots. Those were big plays.”
When the final buzzer sounded, Singler had a game-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting (4 of 6 from deep). After turning the ball over at an alarming rate in the first half, the Ducks had just two giveaways after intermission, which helped make up for a lacking defensive effort that allowed Washington State to shoot 57.7 percent in the second half. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
It wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but the flashes of improvement are apparent.
“I think we’re definitely becoming a better team,” Joseph said. “We’re starting to be more cohesive and play better and move the ball better.”