The Oregon men’s basketball team took a large step in erasing thoughts of disappointing performances in the past two seasons as the Ducks upset No. 18 Georgetown Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. 57-50.
With the win, Oregon improved to 6-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season and beat a ranked East Coast team for the first time in their last eight tries.
“This is a team that has matured,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said in a broadcast interview. “They want to win and they’re tired of losing.”
Junior guard Malik Hairston also made his season debut, scoring eight points and making several highlight-reel plays, including a dunk off a missed three-pointer by Tajuan Porter. In the process, he dismissed any thoughts that he wouldn’t be in good enough basketball-shape to see much playing time.
Hairston finished the game three-for-five shooting and added six rebounds. Senior point guard Aaron Brooks, led the team with 15 points and contributed four rebounds.
“He made all the right plays,” Kent said. “He was excellent down the stretch in a big-time environment.”
Oregon led early in the first half at 17-13, but the Hoyas rallied with a 10-point run that saw the Ducks score zero points in over nine minutes of play.
Oregon was able to end the drought, scoring with 2:42 left in the half and narrowed the Georgetown lead to 25-23 before halftime. The fact that the Hoyas had such a small lead was fortunate for the Ducks considering they shot 28 percent in the half and were 2-14 from the three-point line.
“All we needed to do was step up with confidence and shoot the ball and continue to play defense. That’s exactly what we did,” Kent said.
Junior forward Maarty Leunen, along with constant help from teammates, limited Georgetown’s 7-foot-2-inch center Roy Hibbert to four points.
How Kent planned on guarding Hibbert was big question heading into the game, but he stuck with the 6-foot-9-inch Leunen rather than rely on his taller players.
“He played a masterful game against one of the bigger men in the country,” Kent said. “The size doesn’t matter. It comes down to your spirit and your heart.”
The Ducks shooting improved during the second half and finished the game 38.9 percent overall, 22.7 from beyond the arc. Kent said the team was able to compensate for the lack of efficient scoring by playing aggressive defense.
“We’ve been great defensively all year long,” Kent said. “We were outstanding for this game defensively.”
It was the second consecutive loss at home to an unranked opponent for Georgetown, which began the season as the No. 8 team in the nation.
The one blemish on the win, however, came when junior guard Chamberlain Oguchi crumpled to the floor while rebounding the ball. Kent said Oguchi suffered a high-ankle sprain and sat out for the rest of the game. Kent believes the team’s long break should help Oguchi heal before its next game against Nebraska Dec. 9 in Portland for the Papé Jam.
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Ducks make a statement in D.C.
Daily Emerald
November 29, 2006
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