The Oregon men’s basketball team may be dealing with some early-season turmoil with the potential loss of top recruit Jabari Brown,@@CE@@ but it certainly didn’t look distracted in a dominant 86-61@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4297&SPID=235&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205336744&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ victory over Southeast Missouri State at Matthew Knight Arena.
Junior forward E.J. Singler@@roster@@ led the way with a game-high 21 points on 8-10 shooting,@@downloadable stats at previous link@@ while senior guard Garrett Sim@@roster@@ followed with 14 points and five assists.@@stats@@ After committing 41 turnovers in their first two games,@@20+21@@ the Ducks had just eight on Sunday while forcing 19 from the Redhawks.@@stats@@
“I thought we played some really good basketball this afternoon,” head coach Dana Altman said. “The first thirty minutes I thought our activity defensively was by far the best we’ve had this year … I thought we played hard; I thought we moved the ball well.”
Indeed, Oregon grabbed a 38-21 lead going into halftime largely on the back of 11 forced turnovers and 15 points scored off of them. Southeast Missouri State hung with the Ducks for much of the half, even pulling to within three with 5:36 remaining. Oregon called a 30-second timeout and returned to the court with a purpose. The Redhawks would not score again in the first half, and the Ducks used a 14-0 run to pull ahead by 18.@@none of these numbers are online@@
“We wanted to get up and pressure them the whole first half,” Singler said. “I thought Bruce (Barron)@@roster@@ and John (Johnathan Loyd)@@roster@@ gave us a lot of energy in the first half and we give them a lot of credit, pushing out and really guarding and making it hard for them to get inside where they wanted to get the ball.”
Things didn’t improve much for the Redhawks in the second half. It took nearly three minutes for them to put a point on the board, and by then Oregon had increased its lead t0 23. The Ducks would lead by as many as 35 points, and ultimately cruised to the 25-point victory.
The only downsides, as it turned out, were the absence of Brown and injuries to Barron and center Tony Woods. Barron went down when he was kicked in the head while diving for a loose ball, while Woods suffered an ankle injury early in the second half. Though Barron looks to be all right — Altman said, “I saw Bruce back there eating, so he’s fine.” — Woods’ injury may be a bit more serious. He was taken for x-rays after the game, and Altman says his status for Nebraska on Wednesday is doubtful.
“Obviously that’s a big concern,” Altman said. “Hopefully it’ll be okay, but I’d say he’s real doubtful for the Nebraska game — it was pretty sore.”
The Ducks return to the floor Wednesday when they take on Nebraska on the road.
In wake of Brown announcement, men’s basketball trounces Southeast Missouri State 86-61
Daily Emerald
November 19, 2011
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