Oregon couldn’t shoot or rebound against Cal on Thursday, and any chance of keeping it close went away with a 10-0 Golden Bears run to start the second half.
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It’s an all-too familiar theme this season for the Ducks, to the tune of 20 losses – this one 78-60 – their first 20-loss season since 1992-93. Down 36-44 at the end of the first half as junior guard Tajuan Porter made a running shot in the lane, there was a palpable chance Oregon (6-20, 0-14 Pac-10) would stay close throughout the second half against California (20-6, 9-4). And then, like so many games before it, the Ducks laid an egg to start the second half, not scoring for nearly three minutes and allowing the Bears to drop 10 straight points on them to go up 54-36.
Cal head coach Mike Montgomery called himself “uptight” before and during the game because a loss to Oregon would have submarined its NCAA Tournament chances.
“That’s the problem with Oregon,” Montgomery said. “They’re good enough to beat you but you can’t lose to them at this stage. We needed this.”
Cal entered the game shooting 45.9 percent from three-point range, the best in the nation, with junior forward Theo Robertson leading the nation in individual three-point accuracy. Unlike Oregon, they didn’t take many, only seven all night, but also unlike the Ducks, they made most of them with three. That was only two made three-pointers less than the Ducks, who attempted 26 shots from long range for a dismal 19.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Junior point guard Jerome Randle sliced through Oregon’s defense numerous times, scoring 17 points with three assists and five turnovers in 38 minutes. He was joined in double figures by junior guard Patrick Christopher with 16 points, junior forward Jamal Boykin with 11 points and sophomore forward Harper Kamp’s career-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
“They have to honor guys like Jamal and Pat so much it makes it easier for me,” Kamp said.
And it did look easy in the second half. Cal made as many free throws in the second half (11 makes on 14 attempts) as it did field goals, pulling away with little effort on its own part.
Oregon, meanwhile, struggled to keep in the game because of its poor rebounding, getting outrebounded by 13 boards. Boykin led the game with 14 rebounds, tying a career-high.
Boykin said the team felt the pressure not to lose to the winless-in-conference Ducks.
“It weighed heavily,” Boykin said. “Obviously you don’t want to lose to a team that’s lost everything. We figured that they’re pretty upset and they would come out and try to not let what’s happened happen.”
One of the few bright spots for Oregon was its ability to hang with the Bears in the first half, despite having eight available players on the roster because of various injuries. The short bench took its toll in the second half, as turnovers and a 26 percent shooting percentage in the second half were nowhere near close to Cal.
After the game, Oregon coach Ernie Kent disagreed that this is the team’s lowest point of the season.
“I think individually they’ve had lower points … we’re just going to keep positive,” Kent said. “For as low as they look right now, we’re going to bounce right back.”
Kent said freshman forward Drew Wiley, senior forward Churchill Odia and sophomore guard LeKendric Longmire will be ready to play Saturday against Stanford after sitting out the game after injuries from the past weekend. Freshman guard Teondre Williams was available to play Thursday but was held out by Kent because of academic issues, the coach said.
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Same problems persist as Ducks ousted by Golden Bears
Daily Emerald
February 19, 2009
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