For once, Oregon wasn’t behind.

The Ducks didn’t trail at the half, nor down the stretch. It was a strange sense of calm for a team that has fought hard and long for most of its wins. Against Washington (10-9, 1-7 Big Ten), it found its rhythm in a second half that, while close, never quite fell the Huskies’ way.

No. 15 Oregon (16-3, 5-3 Big Ten) pulled out a 82-71 victory over its rival in a late, West Coast tip on Tuesday night. The Ducks struggled to get the ball to their stars, but the group around them surged as they bounced back from the weekend defeat to No. 11 Purdue. The home side struggled to contain Washington’s bigs, but it didn’t matter in the end.

Green prevailed over purple.

Oregon head coach Dana Altman rolled out his usual starters — Jackson Shelstad, TJ Bamba, Jadrian Tracey, Brandon Angel and Nate Bittle — against a Washington side that sits 190th nationally in points per game (Oregon ranks 69th).

Oregon’s issues flipped early on from its loss to the Boilermakers on the weekend. The Ducks posted nine points in the first six minutes but gave up 12 to a combination of Washington bigs Great Osobor and Wilhelm Breidenbach. The Huskies scored 20 points in the paint in the first half, including all of their first 14.

“You know it’s gonna be a dog fight,” Angel said. “To be honest, those are games I love. You’ve gotta compete and play physical…I don’t know what the exact box score was, but I felt like we dominated.” Oregon outscored Washington in the paint, 42-38, and outrebounded the Huskies 37-24.

The home group’s offensive struggles soon returned, though. The Ducks went through three and five-minute runs without a point in the first 10 minutes alone, and Washington surged ahead. Shelstad, Oregon’s joint-leading 3-point shooter, took zero shots from deep in the period. Guard TJ Bamba, who’s shot just 27.4% from deep this season led the Ducks with seven points in the first half, but shot just 1-4 from beyond the arc. 

“I just saw the way they were guarding me from three — that was disrespectful,” Bamba said. 

He’d finish the game with 21 points (one point off his season high) and four steals on 3-9 shooting from outside.

“I feel like I’m the best defensive player in the Big Ten,” Bamba said. “I’ve been racking up steals.”

With Shelstad (two first-half points) and Oregon center Bittle (three) shut out of the box score, alternative scorers took over for the Ducks. Oregon led without the two stars on efficient (14-28/50%) shooting, and Bamba and Barthelemy led all scorers with nine points in the period. 

“We’ve been saying all year that one of our biggest strengths is our depth,” Angel said. “Any given night we’ve got five, six, seven (players) who we know can score double digits (and) defend. It’s ‘next man up.’”

Although the Ducks re-emerged at the half with renewed vigor, it couldn’t get its stars going. Bittle added just one basket on 1-3 shooting in the first 10 minutes of the period, while Shelstad missed his only shot.

The Huskies hung around. Osobor went down hard on a layup that would eventually become a Barthelemy flagrant foul, but returned to the game immediately to make both free throws and continue to give the Ducks issues inside. He shot six free throws in the second half alone, earning multiple fouls off Bittle.

Transfer portal pickup Supreme Cook appeared off the bench to add six second-half points and aid the Ducks’ effort.

“Supreme played great,” Altman said. “He posted up hard, he wanted that ball, he made his free throws — he was the difference in the game.”

“Supreme’s a monster,” Angel followed up. “He’s one of the strongest players I’ve played with…you saw it first hand tonight. He buried people in the post.”

High praise. 

For once, the Ducks weren’t roaring from behind against an inferior team. Instead, they did what they have struggled to do all year: defend a lead. Oregon led at the half, led with five minutes to play, and didn’t relinquish its advantage in the last 8:26.

With 45 seconds left, Osobor, who dominated the paint for so long, took it upon himself to shoot from deep, but found only air.

As the crowd crowed its appreciation, the big man stared up, looking for answers in the sky. All he could see was an illuminated “O”.

Oregon heads on the road to face Minnesota in Minneapolis this Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time.