Luke Ridnour doesn’t get mad often, but he was pissed off Thursday night. And he took his aggression out on Stanford.
After picking up his second foul in the first two minutes of the game, Ridnour was relegated to the bench for the final 18 minutes of the first half, having not taken a shot. So the Oregon star point guard sat — and steamed.
“We know he’s on the bench mad, and when he’s mad, he plays at a whole ‘nother level,” Oregon forward Robert Johnson said. “We wanted him to get mad and go out there and explode. And that’s what he did in the second half.”
Like a ticking bomb, Ridnour blew up on No. 25 Stanford for 23 points while playing all 20 minutes of the second half to lead Oregon to a 79-64 victory before a sold-out crowd at McArthur Court. Ridnour connected on all six of his free-throw attempts to set the school record with 43-straight free throws. The previous school record for consecutive free throws made was 41; the Pacific-10 Conference record is 49.
“I was fired up and wanted to play pretty bad,” said Ridnour, who finished with zero assists for the first time in his career. “I think it’s just natural for someone to get frustrated when they can’t play. I made some stupid fouls, and I knew I probably wouldn’t go in (in the first half).”

With the win, the Ducks (16-5 overall, 6-4 Pac-10), who beat the Cardinal (16-6, 7-3) for just the second time in 15 games, avenged an 81-57 loss at Stanford on Jan. 11. Oregon, playing perhaps its best defensive game of the conference season, had a 38-37 rebounding edge Thursday after Stanford had a 45-26 rebounding advantage in its win three weeks ago.
“We did a better job of matching their work ethic and intensity,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
And this wasn’t even Oregon at it’s best.
“We can play better basketball,” Kent said. “We’re playing at about 70 percent of productivity as far as everybody being on the same page right now.”
Oregon led 36-27 at halftime, but Stanford cut the lead to 50-46 with 10:57 remaining. Then the Ducks went on a decisive 19-9 run to take a 69-55 lead, and closed the game out by hitting their final 10 free throws.

With Ridnour on the bench, freshman Brandon Lincoln gave the Ducks 15 quality minutes in the first half. Reserve guard Andre Joseph scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, while Jackson and Ian Crosswhite each added 14 points for the Ducks. Julius Barnes led Stanford with 17 points, while Josh Childress had 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Former Oregon star Freddie Jones, in his first season with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, made his first appearance of the season at Mac Court and was greeted by The Pit Crew’s chat of “Freddie, Freddie, Freddie.” He sat in the front row behind the Oregon bench.
Johnson (four points, 11 rebounds) and Crosswhite (14 points, five rebounds) overcame a dismal performance Sunday in a loss to USC and outplayed Stanford’s big men. It was the first time this season that Oregon won when its post players combined for less than 22 points.
“I feel like we did our job,” Johnson said. “When we play (well), we win. When we don’t, we don’t. We just gotta be more consistent.”
“Our big guys were challenged by some of the stuff that was written about them and they responded by boxing out better and rebounding,” Kent said.
Redshirt freshman Matt Short made his second start of the season (both have been against Stanford) and finished with three rebounds and two blocks in 15 minutes. Crosswhite may have started, but was late for Oregon’s shoot-around earlier in the day.
“We just felt like Matt deserved an opportunity to play… and his energy was great,” Kent said. “We’ll reevaluate the situation again on Saturday.”
Oregon hosts California at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“We are a force to be reckoned with,” Crosswhite said. “We’re going to take it to Cal. They put it on us down there and we want to get them in here.”
The Bears (15-4, 8-2), who defeated Oregon State, 84-71, Thursday, beat the Ducks, 88-72, Jan. 9 in Berkeley.
“We have to win Saturday’s game,” Kent said.