Just when things were looking up, they got worse for the Oregon men’s basketball team.
Riding a small wave of confidence going into Saturday’s 333rd Civil War in Corvallis, having won their last two games, the Ducks (12-10 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) fell flat on their faces against the Beavers (10-12, 4-6). The 62-42 final score didn’t even tell the whole story: it was the most lopsided loss to Oregon State in 28 years and the first sweep by OSU since the 1992-1993 season.
“It really is meaningful to get a sweep when we haven’t had it in a long time, and it’s meaningful to the program,” Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. “We’ve made ourselves relevant in the league again.”
Oregon State beat the Ducks again by confusing them with its patented 1-3-1 trapping zone, holding Oregon to 29.8 percent shooting for the game. Led by 18 points from Omari Johnson, the Beavers shot 50 percent.
“They just hit shots,” freshman forward E.J. Singler said. “We came down, we had open looks, we just didn’t hit it.”
The two schools were actually tied in turnovers at 17 each, but the story was in the assists. Oregon State had 20 assists to Oregon’s four, as the Ducks forced up bad shot after bad shot trying to break the trap. In the end, it spelled a 2-for-17 shooting effort from three-pointers and just six field goals in the second half.
“They played up. They did a very good job in the game,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “They shot it well, they passed it well, they defended well (and) made it tough for us to get into things … they just did a good job over the course of 40 minutes.”
For Oregon, sophomores Malcolm Armstead and Matthew Humphrey both had 10 points. Senior guard Tajuan Porter finished with three points in 33 minutes of play.
“The 1-3-1 zone is a pretty good defense; it throws you off balance as a team,” Humphrey said.
The Ducks were down 32-25 at halftime, and they would score just 17 points in the second half. The Beavers closed out the last 8:29 of the game on a 15-8 run, including a 12-0 run during that span to put the game away.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but we give total credit to the Beavers,” Oregon forward E.J. Singler said.
It was a tough game for Kent, who had to sit and watch his team again lose to the Beavers. He had never been swept by his in-state rivals, compiling an impressive record against them. But in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game, joyous Beaver fans chanted, “Goodbye, Ernie!” and the 13th-year head coach had to yet again answer questions about his job security after the game.
“I can’t worry about the overall perception,” Kent said. “The perception can change next week; it changed this past week.”
Oregon travels to Arizona this week to play the Wildcats on Thursday, followed by the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday.
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