The sea of green and yellow at Matthew Knight Arena erupted into a dance to “Shout” midway through the second half after an Oregon sequence that left them no choice but to get on their feet.
Two minutes earlier, the Ducks held the Bears to a rare ten-second backcourt violation, a testament to their defensive intensity that never let up. That intensity continued the next time down the floor when Addison Patterson and CJ Walker pounded a Bear’s layup that led to a Payton Pritchard left wing three.
The name of the game for Oregon: defense into offense. And the barrage didn’t stop there.
A Bears three-pointer resulted in an airball after it was heavily contested by a Ducks defender. An “airball!” chant from the crowd ensued as Patterson knocked down a three at the other end.
Contesting shots, creating that perfect sweet spot trap on the press, swarming any navy blue jersey that came near the paint were all facets of Oregon’s success Thursday night. They played as though they were the ones that lost in January back in Haas Pavilion.
Even down to the final minute, N’Faly Dante swatted Cals Paris Austin’s shot nearly out of bounds where he sprinted back on offense to give Anthony Mathis an assist on his fifth three of the night.
Mathis made nearly as many shots beyond the arc as California did as a whole with six shots compared to Cal’s seven. Mathis, who shot 5-for-6, was an integral part of the teams shooting percentage from three (70.6%), a new Matthew Knight Arena record. Pritchard also contributed to the record-percentage, going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc,finishing with 20 points and nine boards on the night.
“It feels good to finally have a game where I’m feeling it a little bit, so it was a lot of fun,” Mathis said.
The team supported Mathis and Pritchard on the defensive end, holding the Bears to 36% shooting from the field in addition to 30% from three point land.
Oregon was locked in on the defensive end from the start, with the absence of guard Chris Duarte due to recent surgery on his finger. But the Ducks did’nt skip a beat. The Bears never had an easy drive into the paint as white ones were constantly on their toes waiting to swarm when they entered. Arms were waving, bodies were flying, mouths were moving in communication and everything seemed to click on both ends of the floor.
“I thought everybody gave us a little something, which in this time of year, if you can get eight or nine guys contributing that makes a big difference,” head coach Dana Altman said.
Their defensive energy spread throughout the whole rotation and caused their offense to flow even more naturally. Besides the hot three-point shooting, the Ducks exuded that same energy on offense, turning stops into buckets in transition. A multitude of and-ones were called where Oregon finished strong through contact, the first one being a Pritchard layup surrounded by three California jerseys. After the Bears called a timeout, Pritchard walked to the bench waving his arms up and down, letting the crowd know this was how they intended to play the rest of the game.
Everyone had their moments to shine throughout the night, whether Walker swatted yet another shot or Chandler Lawson grinning from ear to ear as he sank his first three of the season.
“It’s just like a big family,” Shakur Juiston said. “Whenever someone does something probably out of the ordinary, we just want them to feel good. We just praise one another to do the best they can.”
