With 4:56 left in the game, forward LeKendric Longmire received an outlet pass and swooped in from the three-point line, preparing to throw down a one-hand dunk. Instead of the ball satisfyingly going through the net, it hit the rim and bounced out while Arizona State recovered the rebound.
That pretty much sums up how Oregon’s night went in a 76-57 defeat to the Arizona State Sun Devils Thursday night at McArthur Court.
Led by 25 points and five rebounds by junior guard Rihards Kuksiks, ASU (13-5 overall, 3-2 Pacific-10 Conference) used their pressure zone and hot first-half shooting to down the Ducks (10-6, 2-2).
“We’re not playing defense,” Longmire said. “Point blank, period. You don’t defend in the Pac-10, you don’t win.”
For Oregon, Longmire scored 11 points and had six rebounds, and he was the only Duck to score in double figures.
Oregon started off with better energy than it did against the Beavers on Sunday night; however, poor shooting allowed the Sun Devils to pull away. With the score 9-6 in favor of ASU with 14:36 to go in the first half, the Sun Devils went on a 11-3 run to go up 20-9.
The run was sparked by two three-pointers by Arizona State guard Ty Abbott, and the junior from Phoenix, Ariz. finished the first half with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 4-of-6 from long distance.
“We were forced to rotate because everyone was being beat off the dribble,” Longmire said. “And when you rotate, they’re going to find the open man, and they were knocking down their shots.”
That run was followed by a 10-0 run to build the Sun Devil lead to 30-11 with 6:15 to go in the half. Towards the end of the run, center Michael Dunigan tossed his mouthpiece behind the bench as he walked off the court, frustration evident on his face. He finished with seven points and five rebounds.
The offensive frustration continued for Oregon as the Sun Devil zone held the Ducks to 31.3 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes and 37.3 percent for the game, and there was one point where Oregon was held scoreless for 5:44 seconds. The Sun Devils shot 48.9 percent from the field in the game.
“LeKendric’s dunk was indicative of everything in the game where even that shot doesn’t go in,” head coach Ernie Kent said. “It was tough to get in that hole, just like we got in that hole against Oregon State and have to fight your way out of it. You felt like you were in the exact same game again.”
The only spark for Oregon in the first half came when guard Tajuan Porter hit a three with just over a minute to go, then forward Jeremy Jacob scored a layup with 33 seconds to play. But a jumper at the buzzer by Kuksiks negated the momentum going into the half, with the score 46-27 ASU.
In the second half, the Sun Devils again came out shooting, extending the lead to 65-39 with 11:48 left in the game. At one point in that stretch, Kent got a technical after Longmire was called for a foul diving for a loose ball.
“Somewhere between Seattle and Eugene we lost our grit,” Kent said of the team’s mental state right now. “We’ve lost our poise a little bit and everything we gained on the road.”
Oregon tied ASU in the second half in scoring, but the first half lead was insurmountable and the score never got any closer than 17 points. By eight minutes to go in the game, it was obvious the Ducks weren’t going to make a comeback and members of the student section started filing out of the arena.
“It’s time for everybody to take a step back and critique themselves as individuals so we can get it right as a whole,” Longmire said
Next up for the Ducks are the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, with tipoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m., but the starting lineup might not be the same. Kent said to shake up the team he might make some personnel moves.
“It might be personnel,” Kent said of the changes he needs to make. “Give a guy an opportunity to play that will get some energy and some excitement and get our grit back. But we will have to look at Arizona.”
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