The Ducks kept their NCAA Tournament chances alive on Sunday.
Jillian Alleyne and Maite Cazorla combined for 49 points and Oregon erased a 14-point deficit for a 77-70 win over Colorado.
The win is the Ducks’ (19-6, 8-6 Pac-12) fifth straight. Oregon has won eight of its last nine games and is now tied with Washington for fifth place in the Pac-12 standings.
“For us to fight back from Maite to [Lexi] Bando to Lexi Petersen, just stepping up — Kat Cooper — it just shows how much strength and how much depth our team has,” Alleyne, who had 26 points and 17 rebounds, said.
Oregon started the game slow, shooting 2-for-13 from the field in the first quarter, which led to an 18-9 Colorado lead. The Buffaloes extended the lead to 14 points (27-13) with 5:39 left before halftime. But, a 3-pointer from Cooper sparked a 12-0 run for the Ducks. Cooper finished with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
“We played a little tentative,” Graves said. “I don’t understand how we take things for granted. We can’t. We’re not in a position to do that. But in the end, we got a nice win.”
Oregon trailed 27-25 after a pair of free throws from Cazorla, who matched a career-high of 23 points. The Ducks scored just before intermission on a lob andpass from Cazorla to Alleyne to make it a 31-29 Colorado lead at halftime. In the first half, the Ducks were 12-of-21 from the free throw line and shot 30.4 percent while CU shot 41.9 percent. Cazorla led the way with 10 points.
“I give them a lot of credit,” Graves said. “I’ve watched every game they’ve played in league. This is what they do. They play hard. They’re not really playing for anything in the standings necessarily, but man alive.”
The Ducks and Buffs traded buckets in the opening minutes of the third quarter before Oregon went on a 11-0 run to make it a 56-45 lead 1:52 left in the third. In total, Oregon outscored Colorado 34-20 in the third quarter. During that span, Alleyne had 15 points and the Ducks were an improved 12-of-19 from the field.
In the fourth, Colorado pulled to within 10 points at 68-58 with 6:47 left, but a pair of free throws from Petersen and Lexi Bando’s first points of the game made it a 73-58 Oregon lead. CU once responded again to cut the deficit to 75-68 with 1:22 left. Colorado began to foul, and the Ducks made their final two free throws and Colorado scored once to end the game.
Oregon almost certainly needed a win against Colorado to keep itself in the hunt for postseason play. The Ducks entered the day No. 58 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings.
“It’s exciting,” Cazorla said. “We want to go to the NCAA Tournament and we play hard every day. We’re just excited every time to go out there and play.”
Oregon finished the game 24-of-37 at the free throw line, which were both season highs for attempts and makes. The Ducks won the rebounding battle (42-27), but had just three points from the bench.
“To have 19 wins, it’s big,” said Alleyne. “The teams that have 19, 20 wins are the teams that are going to have a postseason. That just means so much. We’re playing for a lot right now. We’re trying to make our case to get to the NCAA [Tournament] and I think we’re in a really good position.”
The Ducks play their final home games of the season next weekend with No. 14 UCLA and USC coming to town.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
Oregon downs Colorado 77-70 for fifth straight win
Jonathan Hawthorne
February 13, 2016
Jillian Alleyne (14) passes the ball from the post. The Oregon Ducks hosted the Colorado Buffaloes on Feb. 14, 2016 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. (Samuel Marshall/Emerald).
0
More to Discover