he Oregon men’s basketball team hoped to give head coach Ernie Kent a victory for his 50th birthday present Saturday against Arizona State.
Instead, the Ducks came out of the locker room ice cold and fell to the Sun Devils, 64-51 in front of 9,087 fans at McArthur Court.
Oregon (11-5 overall, 3-4 Pacific-10 Conference) shot 20 of 70 from the floor and connected on a miserable 4 of 34 three-point shots against Arizona State’s 2-3 zone defense. The Sun Devils (14-5, 3-4) entered the contest allowing 90.7 points per game during a three-game losing streak but limited the hapless Duck offense to a 28.6 percent shooing clip — including 11.8 percent from three-point range.
Oregon found itself down 33-19 at halftime and got no closer than 10 in the second half. The Ducks looked confused offensively for the second consecutive game, often standing around and forcing long-range jumpers. Even when the Ducks got open looks from the perimeter, they couldn’t knock down their shots.
Malik Hairston led Oregon with 17 points, but shot only 8 of 18 from the floor, including 1 of 8 from three-point range. Aaron Brooks finished with 10 points on 3 of 15 shooting (0 of 6 from three-point range), while Bryce Taylor scored three points on 1 of 10 shooting (1 of 7 from three-point range).
The lack of an inside game was also embarrassingly evident, as post players combined to shoot 3 of 7 from the floor. Forward Ian Crosswhite, who came of the bench for only the second time in his Oregon career after struggling for several games, didn’t attempt a field goal and committed two turnovers in 12 foul-plagued minutes.
Arizona State jumped out to a 6-0 lead when Steve Moore and Bryson Krueger knocked down consecutive three-pointers against Oregon’s zone defense. The Ducks got as close as two at several points in the first half but trailed the entire game.
Oregon did excel defensively, however, limiting the Sun Devils to a 36.5 percent shooting clip. The Ducks also held star center Ike Diogu to a career-low-tying 10 points. Diogu also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Arizona State forward Serge Angounou led all scorers with 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds.
