Senior guards Devoe Joseph and Garrett Sim scored 36 combined points to lead the Oregon men’s basketball team to a 65-62 victory over the USC Trojans Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
The Ducks (14-5, 5-2 Pac-12) secured their 10th win at home this season and fifth-straight over USC, which dropped its sixth consecutive contest to remain winless in Pac-12 play. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
“We found a way to win, and that’s always important,” head coach Dana Altman said. “It’s hard to play well every night, and we didn’t offensively play well tonight. We know we have to play better to get wins down the road.”
A week after turning the ball over just eight times in a road win over Arizona State, the Ducks seemed to take a step back in that category on Thursday. The Trojans scored 19 points off Oregon’s 19 turnovers in the game, and the visitors also attempted 17 more shots (61-44) from the field.
Fortunately, the Ducks never trailed in the second half and relied on clutch free-throw shooting from Sim and Joseph down the stretch to secure the victory. Oregon’s lead was cut to 56-54 at the 2:31 mark, but Joseph nailed a three-pointer at the top of the key to extend the lead to five. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@
Over the final two minutes, Sim connected on four straight free throws to match USC’s Dewayne Dedmon and Maurice Jones’ pair each. Then Joseph made the final two from the charity stripe with 17 seconds remaining to put the game on ice. @@http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/usc-m-baskbl-mtt.html@@
“They’re a good defensive team, but we just weren’t as focused as we should’ve been tonight,” said Joseph, who scored in double digits (16) for the fifth-straight game. “That happens some nights, but to be a good team you have to eliminate those nights as much as possible. And the good thing is we still got the win.”
After a relatively quiet first half offensively, Sim found his rhythm in the second half, sinking 4-of-5 three-pointers and all six of his free throws in the game to finish with 20 points.
“They definitely slowed it down and tried to play at their pace,” Sim said. “Credit to them, they played really hard tonight, but in the end we made some free throws and some plays down the stretch and got a win.”
Senior Olu Ashaolu continued to provide a big spark off the bench, particularly in the first half. The 6-foot-7 forward scored seven of his 11 points over a five-minute span to give Oregon a 14-8 lead with 11:08 to go, but Jones was right there to get the Trojans back on track.
Jones scored eight of USC’s next 11 points as the visitors claimed their first lead of the night. The 5-foot-7 sophomore guard made up for the Trojans’ lack of offense, but it didn’t take long for the Ducks to reclaim the lead before half, 30-28. Devoe Joseph nearly made it a five-point lead when his turn-around three-pointer found the bottom of the net as time expired, but the ball left his hand a second late and was promptly waved off.
Jones finished with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-23 shooting, while Dedmon quietly went 7-of-10 from the floor to score 18 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
“He’s a tough player to guard. He’s quick as anyone,” Sim said of Jones. “Anyone that has the green light like that, to pretty much do anything on the court, is pretty hard to guard. With him being so quick, he’s a tough guy to keep in front of you.”
Oregon will be back in action on Saturday when they host UCLA for a 1 p.m. contest.
“It will be a physical game,” Altman said. “We’re going to have to do a tremendous job of not letting them get us on the boards. We’re gonna have to do a better job of making plays for our teammates and making shots for each other.”