A couple of tough calls possibly changed the outcome late in Oregon’s 84-78 loss to USC Saturday at McArthur Court.
The Ducks played without both point guards, Aaron Brooks and Brandon Lincoln, who fouled out late in the second half. Oregon coach Ernie Kent believes that was a major factor.
“Losing the two point guards really hurt us down the stretch,” said Kent, whose team fell to 4-5 in the Pacific-10 Conference and 10-11 overall. “I thought there was a couple of tough calls on both of them that were made. That put us in a tough, tough bind. Certainly down the stretch of a possession game you need a point guard on the floor, so that definitely hurt us.”
The sold-out crowd of 9,087 cheered as Kent put in walk-on Adrian Stelly following Brooks’ fifth foul with two minutes 55 seconds remaining. Stelly was pressured intensely before Kent called a timeout during the first possession. Bryce Taylor then switched over to bring the ball down the court for the rest of the game.
Oregon was whistled for 24 fouls and USC (14-6, 5-4) was able to get to the free-throw line 32 times, making 22. Although the Trojans didn’t shoot a high percentage at the charity strip, neither did the Ducks, who made just 12 of 23.
“The bigger thing that hurt us in the game was just poor free-throw shooting even though we shot the ball well from the floor,” Kent said.
The Ducks hit from everywhere else on the court, finishing with a 52.9 field-goal percentage. Led by Chamberlain Oguchi, who recorded a career-best six three-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points, the Ducks made 60 percent of their second-half field goals, including 53.3 percent of their attempted three-pointers.
“It’s tough to lose,” Oguchi said. “I mean I had a good game, but you’ve got to look past it and prepare for the next one.”
Taylor followed with a season-high 18 points, nailing 7 of 11 field goals and 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.
“Chamberlain and I had talked before the game,” Taylor said. “Just playing our game, just trying to have fun, not worrying about whether we missed a shot. Just coming in with that attitude where we just want to help the team any way we can and that’s what we do best is shoot the ball.”
Both Oguchi and Taylor did much of their damage in the second half as both scored six points in the first half. Oguchi made all six of his field goal attempts in the second half, including four three-pointers.
Brooks led three Ducks who were one basket away from double figures. He ended the night with nine points, nine assists, six rebounds and no turnovers. Jordan Kent added eight points and two blocks.
Malik Hairston, who finished with six points and was held scoreless in the second half against UCLA last Thursday, scored eight points. Prior to the UCLA game, Hairston had scored in double figures in 17 of 18 games played this season.
The Trojans were led by Gabe Pruitt, who finished with a game-high 30 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Pruitt was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc and 8 of 12 at the free-throw line. Four other Trojans scored in double figures. Nick Young had 16 points, Lodrick Stewart 14, Ryan Francis 11 and N’diaye Abdoulaye 10.
Oregon was swept at home for the first time this season. Prior to this weekend, the Ducks were 3-0 at home in Pac-10 games.
“We would have liked to have finished the first half with a winning record, obviously, and somewhere around third or fourth place, but that didn’t happen with the losses this weekend,” coach Kent said. “We went from an opportunity of being in first place to where we are right now and it’s unfortunate, but we’ve got to get back to work.”
Oregon hosts Stanford (10-7, 6-3) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. It is the first game of the second half of Pac-10 play for both teams.
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