In a close 66-65 win for the Ducks (20-11, 12-8 Pac-12), the prevailing theme was that each didn’t do enough to win. At the end of the game, Oregon made just one of its last eight field goal attempts, while going scoreless for the last four minutes of the game.
Utah (18-13, 9-11 Pac-12) saw a very similar stretch, also making just one of its last eight shots and going without a field goal for almost four minutes. The Utes would have gone scoreless in the last four minutes if not for two free-throws at the end to make it a one-point game.
A Ben Carlson miss as time expired secured the win for Oregon in a game where each team had the chance to pull away from the other if it just made a few more shots.
Each team shot 41% (Utah 41.1% and Oregon 41.7%) from the field throughout the game, but it was Oregon that had the worse numbers otherwise.
The Ducks shot 20% from beyond the arc and 12-19 from the charity stripe (63%), and if a few of those had gone in, it would’ve been smooth-sailing for the Ducks.
“We don’t shoot well, 4-20, and we don’t shoot free throws well,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said, “I told them at halftime, ‘If we hold them under 70 and get our rebounds straightened out, we’d be in good shape.’”
And that was the theme of the last few minutes: just keep the Utes under 70 and hold on.
When Oregon’s last field goal went in, there were just under five minutes left, and from there Utah went on a 6-1 run.
“I feel like we just had to grind it out, even if we don’t score,” Jermaine Couisnard said, “We got the lead and we had to find ways to get stops and we had that down the stretch.”
Oregon was able to get those stops, but against better teams, that level of play has hurt the Ducks. Altman noted how the last part of this game felt like the Ducks’ loss to Colorado just a few days ago, as the team failed to score enough to keep a lead.
It was a common thread throughout a mediocre regular season for Altman’s standards.
“I’m mad at myself, I hadn’t got them to understand the way we need to play to win with these eight guys,” Altman said.
Altman demonstrated his impeccable leadership postgame by gracefully taking the blame for Oregon’s misgivings this season.
“We haven’t practiced hard enough because I’m worried about injuries, and that just doesn’t prepare you,” Altman said, “I did a terrible job, I didn’t get them physical enough.”
The close win was as bittersweet as it could have been, as the Ducks will lose some of their most important pieces to graduation.
It was a fitting send-off for Oregon’s centerpiece N’Faly Dante, who finished his last regular season college game with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.
The stretch where the Ducks took the lead was due to his incredible persistence on the boards.
After an and-one, posterizing dunk off a lob from Couisnard, Dante proceeded to miss the free-throw, grab hold of a tipped ball and get an-and-one layup.
Then, Dante missed the next free-throw. Kwame Evans Jr. grabbed the rebound, dished to Dante, who finished off a solo, 45-second, 6-0 run with another tough layup.
As the season comes to a close, it only makes sense that the last game came down to who could get more stops down the stretch. All season, Oregon failed to hit shots in crunch time, something Altman chalks up to his own flaws.
Regardless of this outcome, it was always going to be a difficult road to March Madness for the Ducks — who now need a miracle run in the Pac-12 tournament.
Oregon secured the No. 4 seed and will play the winner of the No. 5 seed UCLA (15-16, 10-10 Pac-12) and No. 12 seeded Oregon State (13-18, 5-15 Pac-12) on Thursday.
