On Monday night, Oregon found itself with the opportunity to once again beat up on its in-state little brother. The Ducks, at times slow-moving, took care of the Beavers down in Eugene. 

The Oregon men’s basketball team (4-0) hosted its in-state rivals, the Oregon State Beavers (3-1) in an 87-75 win where it never trailed. The winning streak for the Ducks now sits at nine games against the Beavers dating back to 2020.

Oregon took the advantage to start the game with an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes before Oregon State finally got on the board. Senior center Nate Bittle led the way early with nine points including a three-pointer through the first six minutes. Bittle’s game-high 24 points, along with his seven rebounds, helped fuel the Ducks victory from the interior. 

Bittle found aid from frontcourt running mate Kwame Evans Jr., who posted 16 points and a game-leading 14 rebounds while shooting 10-14 from the free throw line. 

“We’re going to need that from (Evans) every time,” junior point guard Jackson Shelstad said. “He’s capable of that. When he goes to the boards like that, it really just gets everybody going and it gets him going.”

The Beaver committed eight fouls in the first five minutes and four of Bittle’s nine early points came from the free throw line.

It looked like the Ducks were looking to run away with it early, but the Beavers went on 6-0 run to flip the script and cut the lead to two. A three-point basket from Shelstad gave the Ducks their spark back, but OSU stayed right with them.

After an early timeout, the Beavers switched to a zone defense, which allowed them to contain the Ducks’ shooting a lot more.

“When we get impatient, we were 30% (when moving the ball) on one side, we just got to do a better job at moving the ball, that’s who we are,” head coach Dana Altman said. 

OSU had the lead cut down to one, but back-to-back buckets inside the paint gave the Ducks a little breathing room. The Beavers still were not going away, but Oregon was more consistent in making shots than it had been for most of the first three games of the season, which helped to maintain a small lead.

The Ducks finished with an efficient 47% (25-53) from the field and 42% from three (10-24), which became key to keeping them ahead. 

“We made some steps, it’s a slow process,” Altman said about the shooting. “Jackson out there makes such a big difference, but we got to get our bench going.”

Shelstad put up 10 points through the first 15 minutes including a pair of threes. He finished with 22 points on 7-15 shooting and played 37 of the 40 minutes. 

“I feel like shots just started dropping for me,” Shelstad said. “Once I see one go down, I really get my confidence going. Just being aggressive and trying to make a run and getting to the right place.”

Oregon was doing well to defend the paint, which forced OSU to take a lot of three-point shots. It was the Beavers’ inconsistent ability to hit it from deep and the Ducks navigating the OSU defense on the other side by drawing fouls and hitting the shots they were given that fueled their 9-0 run until the Beavers finally found a layup in the final minute of the half.

Oregon took a 41-35 lead into the break. Its leading scorers, Bittle and Shelstad finished the half with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Both teams scored on their first possession of the second half. The Beavers drove inside for a layup and the Ducks hit back-to-back threes from Bittle and Takai Simpkins to bring their lead back up to 10.

OSU had a chance to take the momentum back when it was fouled shooting a three, but the Ducks responded with an and-one from Bittle and it remained a 10 point game.

The teams exchanged three-pointers, but a pair of travels against the Beavers allowed Oregon to extend its lead briefly. OSU quickly cut the deficit into single digits and brought it down to five before the Ducks scored again.

Another foul shooting a three brought the Beavers within three points before Oregon got going again on offense. The Ducks got their lead back up to seven, but both teams started committing fouls more frequently, which prevented either of them from going on a significant run.

Shelstad got things going again with the first non-free throw points in over two minutes from beyond the arc. The Beavers responded with a layup, and then it was back to fouling.

After an out of bounds call originally ruled OSU ball, but was reversed to Oregon, which set up another Shelstad three-pointer. After an empty Beavers possession, the Ducks came right back down the court for a slam dunk from Bittle to extend the lead to 13 with four minutes remaining. The Beavers never got within single digits again.

“We’re going to have to have a hell of a week in practice,” Altman said. “We’re going to have to get tougher on the boards, our ball movement has got to get better, so I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important week of practice than what we have coming up.” 

The Ducks have a full week off before taking on Auburn next Monday Nov. 24 at the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas.