If Oregon’s 74-65 loss at Colorado on Saturday night came as a surprise to you, it shouldn’t have.
In their last seven trips to Boulder, the Ducks have yet to come away with a win. Obviously, personnel will differ year to year, as will crowd sizes and intensity, but for Oregon there is just something about Colorado that it can’t seem to figure out.
On Saturday night, it was simply that Oregon got beat.
The Ducks committed 16 turnovers, shot a brutal 38 percent from the field, and missed 23 of the 34 3-pointers they attempted.
“Our execution was awful,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said after the game. “I don’t want to take anything away from Colorado — their energy level was better than ours. They beat us.”
While this was not the kind of showing that you would expect out of the No. 10 team in the country, every team has bad games. Just this week, No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas, No. 8 UCLA, and No. 9 North Carolina lost once, and No. 4 Kentucky and No. 6 Florida State each lost twice. And that’s just in the top 10.
So if there’s a week that a loss hurts less than usual, it’s this week.
Oregon should be fine, even with this loss. One bad game doesn’t define what a team will do the rest of the season. For any Oregon fans who are concerned at all right now, just remember this team just won a program record 17 straight games. They’re arguably the most talented group that Altman has ever coached.
Still, the loss did highlight some potential weak areas for the Ducks.
Their ball movement stalled and their offense became stagnant. This led to a number of possessions resulting in forced, isolation shots and multiple turnovers. In fact, the Ducks have only averaged 11.5 assists in their last two games, compared to almost 20 in the six previous games. When the Ducks don’t move the ball, they’re remarkably mortal.
Another area of concern is at the free throw line. Oregon converted on 10 of their 16 attempts (62.5 percent) against Colorado, which is a tad under their season average (71.2 percent). While Oregon has improved from the charity stripe throughout the season, it is still ranked 128th nationally in that category.
This was also probably not the start that Altman was looking for to begin the second half of conference play. The Ducks are approaching their toughest stretch of the season in the coming weeks — starting with Arizona State and No. 7 Arizona at home this week, followed by a trip south to see No. 8 UCLA and USC.
Oregon can get back on track starting Thursday at home against the Sun Devils, who they should beat. But as this week showed, any team can win on any given night.
These upcoming weeks will be a test for the Ducks. But it’s important to remember that this team is (or was) ranked No. 10 in the country for a reason.
“They are not only a top-10 team; they are a legit top-10 team,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said after Saturday’s game. “Oregon is every bit as good as that ranking they came in here with.”
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris